March 28, 2004 7:43 AM

Education in Texas: it's not a right, it's a privilege- and an expensive one, at that

Tuition leaps 21% at A&M: Board of regents OKs rise despite pleas by students

It used to be that one of the functions of public institutions of higher education in Texas was to provide a college education to those lower on the economic food chain. It would appear that those days are about to go the way of the buffalo.

COLLEGE STATION -- Despite impassioned protests from Texas A&M University students, school regents approved a whopping tuition increase for the fall 2004 semester Friday.

A&M students will pay 21 percent more, or an additional $300 for a 14-hour semester workload -- an increase that regents and school President Robert Gates said was necessary to offset years of underfunding by the state.

"The nitty-gritty of the matter is that this is still the best bargain in the country," said Lowry Mays, chairman of the Texas A&M University System board of regents. "No one wants to increase college costs, but we have certain goals to improve the educational caliber of the university and it's important we have the resources to do it."

A&M becomes just the latest Texas public university to dramatically increase its price tag since the Texas Legislature deregulated tuition last year. The increases have made headlines around the state and prompted some legislators to publicly wonder if the deregulation was a mistake that should be corrected in the next session.

Regents unanimously approved the increase with little discussion a day after a parade of students pleaded, sometimes emotionally, for regents to scale it back. Some said it might make them and others from middle-class families drop out of school.

"I'm not an eloquent speaker, but that doesn't change what's in my heart," said Juston Thompson, a junior agricultural student. "My dream was to come to this university, graduate and get an Aggie ring. But there's no way I'll be able to afford this increase."....

The increase comes eight months after regents increased tuition $9 per credit hour for the spring 2003 semester and vowed they'd keep tuition increases moderate and not abuse their carte blanche to set tuition as high as they want.

A&M is not alone in pricing poorer students out of an education. UT-Austin's tuition for fall 2004 will increase 26%. It would be tough to argue that the State of Texas is NOT failing in it's responsibility to ensure that it's citizens have every available opportunity to make better lives for themselves. These tuition hikes are sending the very clear message that anyone can have a college education in Texas- just as long as you have the money.

I would certainly agree that Texas' higher education system needs an infusion of cash in order to make a reasonably good educational system that much better. Shouldn't that be the role of the Legislature, though? Oh, wait; I forgot. They were too busy figuring out how to shove redistricting down the throats of Texans in order to deal with the issues they were actually elected to deal with.

Face it, y'all; education in Texas is a right- but only if you have the money. Otherwise, hey, Jack-in-the-Box is hiring, eh?? Just try not to feel jealous when you serve the A&M graduate in the drive-through lane whose parents DID make enough money for him to go to school, OK?

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on March 28, 2004 7:43 AM.

Those who have no defense can only resort to demagoguery was the previous entry in this blog.

Yet another reason to live in Texas is the next entry in this blog.

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