In 2003 the Texas legislature passed HB 3015. The bill was intended to help level out college costs by setting aside a certain percentage of the tuition of students who could afford college and putting that money toward students who have a greater financial need. The idea behind this was that higher education could be funded without dipping into tax payer's money. HB 3015 deregulated college tuition prices, leading to a huge spike in student loan debt and making school less affordable for the average student. Before tuition was deregulated, the legislature required all public schools to charge a flat rate tuition regardless of income. Students who needed financial assistance could still receive aid through federal funding (FAFSA) or through grants and scholarships based on merit or financial need.
Deregulating college tuition in Texas has had some big, unintended consequences. Tuition has gone up steadily since 2003 and is currently 83% higher than it was 12 years ago. The competitive job market still requires a degree pushing many young people to find alternate means to fund their education. The University of Texas is especially affected by rising tuition and has seen an alarmingly large increase in signups on websites designed to match young women with rich old dudes to fund their college in exchange for... Ummm... Yeah.
Here are a few more reasons Texas should regulate college tuition and bring it back to a more affordable rate:
We are part of a global economy- and we are being out-ranked by countries that provide free higher education.
We are forcing young people to take on more student loan debt than ever before and sending them off into a competitive job market where having a degree doesn't guarantee a job.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/opinion/sunday/the-real-reason-college-tuition-costs-so-much.html?fb_ref=Default&_r=0
http://www.dailytexanonline.com/2015/01/21/in-state-of-the-union-address-obama-emphasizes-college-accessibility
Here are a few more reasons Texas should regulate college tuition and bring it back to a more affordable rate:
We are part of a global economy- and we are being out-ranked by countries that provide free higher education.
We are forcing young people to take on more student loan debt than ever before and sending them off into a competitive job market where having a degree doesn't guarantee a job.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/opinion/sunday/the-real-reason-college-tuition-costs-so-much.html?fb_ref=Default&_r=0
http://www.dailytexanonline.com/2015/01/21/in-state-of-the-union-address-obama-emphasizes-college-accessibility
There is no denying that our very own University of Texas has become of the highest ranked schools in education, tuition, and now unbelievably (or believably) sugar daddies. According to Fastest Growing Sugar Baby Schools of 2015 UT is on the top for the most signed up Sugar Babies in the past year. Not surprising when you look at the numbers involved with the increasingly high tuition. My colleague Laura Pippen wrote an intriguing article called Lend Me Some Sugar regarding this "problem" that is going down at UT.
ReplyDeleteLaura starts her article with facts based on the Texas Legislatures passing the bill HB 3015 which was designed for all public universities to be required to set aside a percentage of every students tuition each semester in order to fund programs that would help the costs for a student in need. What exactly is setting aside? What are the percentages that the state is taking from each student? While reading this article I began to question how this could make the tuition increase so dramatically over the years. For that reason I did a little more research on the HB 3015 bill. I found out that since this bill was passed in 2003 there has been a flat rate tuition on all public institutions which was now divided into two parts: statutory and designated. In statutory tuition (rate that the state mandates college charge) 15% of this is set aside and reserved for the Texas Public Educational Grant and the Emergency Loan program. On the other side of the coin the designated tuition (determined by institution) another 15% is set aside for University's tuition grant account. Since 2003 the tuition costs has increased a whopping 86%.
Besides missing a few factual points regarding why this would take place, I find Laura's article fun and interesting. All the babes at UT are now attending Sugar Baby University debt free.
I was interested in Ms. Laura Pippen's mention of the long term consequences of the 78th Ledge's HB 3015. As she points out, it seems to be having quite a few... unintended consequences. That said, I was curious to know the problem the bill was attempting to solve. After doing some digging I came across an interesting recap [ http://www.hro.house.state.tx.us/pdf/ba78r/hb3015.pdf ] of the bill.
ReplyDeleteAfter absorbing that, I suspect there was going to be a massive budget shortfall and a very unlikely chance that taxes would be increased to cover the difference. Raising tuition was likely the least bad, or perhaps only, way that public universities in Texas would have the ability to maintain services at existing levels. In other words, I believe everyone knew this was going to cause tuition hikes. It's just unfortunate that this deregulation happened just in time for The Great Recession to hit and allow the Ledge to cut state funding at the knees.
At any rate, I agree with Laura that this has put a massive and unfair burden on students and their families. I would also add that all taxpayers, including businesses, in Texas benefit from a well educated workforce; tax revenue as well as worker skill and ability are increased when high quality education is available at affordable prices. It is not unreasonable to expect all tax payers, including businesses, to shoulder some of the burden.
I think the other lesson here is young people need to pay attention and vote. I imagine the Ledge would have been a lot more resistant to passing such legislation if they knew it was going to upset a significant portion of their base. Sure, paying attention and having to go vote once every couple years is a drag sometimes, but it beats being a sugar baby...