Democrats are urging the governor to head off college tuition hikes by calling lawmakers back to Nashville this summer, though their plea is not likely to prompt action.
They say lawmakers should freeze college tuition rates as officials at the state’s Board of Regents and the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees contemplate increasing college costs.
“You could call it a tuition increase. But what it really is, is a tax increase,” said Jim Kyle, the leading Senate Democrat, at a Capitol Hill press conference. “It is a tax increase on people who are trying to improve their lives and improve Tennessee by getting a better education.”
UT trustees are expected to decide this week whether to go along with proposed tuition hikes of 8 percent at the Knoxville campus, 6 percent at Chattanooga and Martin, and 4 percent at the Health Science Center in Memphis. The Board of Regents, which oversees the rest of the state’s public colleges, is considering increases ranging from 3.4 percent at Austin Peay State University to 7.3 percent at East Tennessee State University.
Democrats say the state has the money to freeze tuition, a task they say would mean handing the higher education boards $78 million. They also want to further reduce the sales tax on groceries by another penny per $100 spent. The Legislature this year approved a reduction of .25 cents per $100.
The request — made in the middle of the campaign season — is a long shot. Republicans refused to budge when those same Democrats wanted to use some $200 million in excess tax revenue to pay for even deeper cuts in the food tax.
Instead, Republicans plugged almost $30 million of excess revenues into the state budget earlier this year, but vowed to stick the rest into state reserves.
“We want to be sure we have a complete picture of what our budget commitments will look like before we interrupt the budget process and start spending funds in an ad hoc way,” said Dave Smith, a Haslam spokesman. “That shouldn’t be done from a quick-fix perspective.”
The governor told the Chattanooga Times Free Press earlier this month he wants to turn his attention to finding a better way to fund higher education.
read more:http://tnreport.com/blog/2012/06/20/dems-request-special-session-to-freeze-tuition/
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Egregious tuition hiking by Chancellor make University of California Berkeley the priciest public university. University of California Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau, Provost Breslauer are leaving an indelible mark on access and affordability to Cal. Both are outspoken on why elite public Cal. should ‘charge Californians much more’ tuition. Number 1 ranked Harvard is now less costly (all in costs). UC Berkeley tuition is rising faster than costs at other universities. The ‘charge more’ tuition policy makes Cal. the most expensive public university!
Birgeneau ($450,000 salary) Breslauer ($306,000 salary) like to blame the politicians, since they stopped giving them every dollar expected. The ‘charge Californians more’ tuition skyrocketed fees by an average 14% per year from 2006 to 2011-12 academic years. If Birgeneau Breslauer 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. Disparities in higher education defeat the promise of equality of opportunity. An unacceptable legacy for students, parents, politicians!
Additional funding should sunset. The economic downturn is devastating California. Simply asking Californians for more money to fund inept Cal. leadership, old expensive higher education models and support burdensome salaries, bonuses, and pensions is not the answer.
UC Berkeley is to maximize access to the widest number of Californians at a reasonable cost: mission of diversity and equality of opportunity. Birgeneau’s Breslauer’s ‘charge Californians more’ tuition denies middle income Californians the transformative value of Cal’s higher education.
Opinions? UC Board of Regents marsha.kelman@ucop.edu Calif. State Senators, Assembly members.