Tuition Bills Hashed Out In Senate

For the students (and their parents) at the University of Texas, tuition increases at a faster rate than at most other comparable public universities. In fact, the tuition for an in-state Liberal Arts major has increased 391.5% between 1970 and 2002. For an in-state graduate Law student, the increase has skyrocketed 1,059.9%. Even with flat-rate tuition prices for students, lack of caps on tuition increases allows for the price of a UT education to rise pretty much every year, often by hundreds of dollars. In fact, if you were a liberal arts major at UT who graduated in 2004, after a typical four-year education you saw your tuition rise $1,449. This includes a $157 increase between your freshman and sophomore year and a $800 raise between your junior and senior year.

Yesterday, three state senators proposed four bills that attempt to control the problem of rising tuition rates at our public universities, especially the University of Texas system. Senator Florence Shapiro (R-Plano), Senator Juan Hinojosa (D-Mission) and Senator Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) presented Senate Bills 85, 96, 100 and 578 to the Senate Subcommittee on Higher Education. A run-down of the bills are after the jump. We'll let you know what happens to them in the future.