Higher Ed Funding in Texas needs Change

Higher Education in Texas is an issue that sometimes is passed over by the general public, as well as, the State Legislature.  This session the change being discussed is not how much to hike tuition but instead how to fix the problem created by government.

Some of the ideas include a 2 year freeze on tuition, a “freshman freeze,” and a swap out linking the “top 10% rule” and tuition increases.  Although I personally am not in favor of any of these options as least they are a step in the right direction concerning the shocking cost of education in Texas.

“Explosive student population growth of the last two decades plus record fuel prices for most of the past two years forced schools to spend more money than what the lawmakers gave them for the current two-year cycle.

And then there are the four-year colleges and universities. With a growing number of legislators calling for the repeal of the 2003 tuition de-regulation law, or, at least for a two-year moratorium on the skyrocketing tuition increases of the past five years, Texas Tech, West Texas A&M University and the state’s other public institutions are also expected to ask for more money.

Despite a projected surplus of at least $10 billion for next year’s session, officials worry that the Legislature may be too frugal to avoid a shortfall in 2011. After all, seven years ago the lawmakers had a $6 billion surplus going into the session but spent it had the $10 billion deficit two years later.

A few major universities such as Texas Tech already have frozen tuition increases or reduced their rates, those schools are out of reach for thousands of Texans since tuition was deregulated in 2003 and prestigious schools increased their tuitions more than 100 percent. As a result, tens of thousands of students who ordinarily would have gone from high school to a four-year institution are enrolling in junior colleges.

At Texas Tech, for example, which last year froze tuition for at least the current year, the overall increase was 102 percent in four years. At junior colleges, on the other hand, the average increase was 28 percent during the same period.

“I would argue just based on that information that the increase on the cost of going to universities, which has been much steeper than increasing costs in community colleges, is driving more students to select community colleges (as) a place to begin,” Texas Higher Education Commissioner Raymond Paredes told a Texas Senate panel recently.

That’s not all.

“We not only educate people who want to transfer to a four-year school or just get an associate degree to get a good paying job,” Matney said. “We have also become the primary workforce training for Texas.”

State Reps. Carl Isett and John Smithee said they understand the critical needs of community colleges and expect the Legislature to listen to their funding requests.

“I am a big believer in the community college system,” said Smithee, R-Amarillo, dean of the Panhandle delegation and one of the most senior members in the Legislature. “It is going to be an area of great importance.”