The governing board of the University of Texas today froze in-state undergraduate tuition and fees for the next two years at the Austin flagship.
But the Board of Regents allowed most of the other academic and health campuses in the UT System to raise in-state academic charges, albeit not as much as some had sought.
UT-Austin had proposed raising tuition and fees by 2.6 percent in the fall and another 2.6 percent in fall 2013. The two-step increase would have lifted the semester charge by $258 to $5,154. Instead, the semester charge for students from Texas will remain at $4,896.
To make up for the $6 million in annual revenue that would have resulted from the requested tuition increase, the regents allocated that amount to the Austin campus for each of the next two years from the higher education endowment they oversee. Unlike tuition, that endowment money cannot be counted on to continue flowing after two years.
“I am disappointed that our very thoughtful proposal… was not adopted,” said UT-Austin President Bill Powers.
Gov. Rick Perry has urged university governing boards to hold the line on tuition.
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Public University of California Berkeley has earned the distinction of being the most expensive public university in Texas and the remaining 49 states. University of California Berkeley Chancellor makes Cal. farther and farther out of reach for the sons and daughters of Californians. UCB Chancellor Robert J Birgeneau is outspoken on why elite public universities, like Cal, should charge Californians more. With Birgeneau’s leadership UCB is more expensive (on an all-in-cost) than private Harvard and Yale. Chancellor Birgeneau’s tuition decisions make Cal. the most expensive public higher education in our country!
Birgeneau ($450,000 salary) likes to blame the politicians, since they stopped giving him every dollar expected. The Chancellor’s ‘charge more’ instate tuition skyrocketed fees by an average 14% per year from 2006 to 2011-12 academic year. If Birgeneau had allowed fees to rise at the same rate of inflation over the past 10 years they would still be in reach of most middle income students. Increasing funding is not Cal’s solution.
UCB is a public university created to maximize access to the widest number of instate students at a reasonable cost with a mission of diversity and equality of opportunity. Unfortunately Birgeneau’s ‘charge more’ instate tuition diminishes the equality and inclusion principles which underlie our state and country. Birgeneau’s and Provost George Breslauer’s ($306,000 salary) ‘charge more’ instate tuition denies middle income Californians the transformative value of university education.
Chancellor Birgeneau’s tenure is a sad unacceptable legacy.
Opinion to: UC Board of Regents marsha.kelman@ucop.edu and Calif. State Senators and Assembly members.
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