If Legislature agrees to deregulate tuition, UT would not charge less affluent Texans.

By Sharon Jayson
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, December 14, 2002

Texas families with an annual income of up to $41,000 could send their children to any University of Texas campus free under a proposal unveiled Friday by UT System Chancellor Mark Yudof.

Yudof made his announcement during a meeting of the UT Board of Regents in Austin. Many details remain unclear, and the plan hinges on the Legislature's willingness to grant a Yudof wish: that lawmakers give up their tuition-setting authority to the regents.

"We can take care of one heck of a lot of Texans if you'll let us manage it," Yudof said, sending a loud and clear signal to the Legislature. "If you want to give the Board of Regents the authority over tuition . . . we'll make sure we can take care of at least half of all Texas families."

Yudof's evolving plan -- he calls it a draft -- would guarantee an undergraduate education at any of UT's nine academic campuses free from tuition and fees. Annual tuition and fees at UT-Austin currently run an average of $5,340. Amounts vary among system campuses.

As presented, the plan has no grade-point average requirement, but that could change as the final proposal comes into focus. The regents plan to consider a final proposal when they meet again in February.

"We have so many holes in the plan," Yudof said. "Don't hold me to the numbers."

Among the areas needing more study is how tuition-savings plans such as the Texas Tomorrow Fund would be affected or whether the $41,000 state median income will remain the cutoff point.

Terese Rainwater, a policy analyst with the Education Commission of the States, said a few private institutions and no public universities have given free tuition and fees to their lowest-income students.

Regents Chairman Charles Miller said UT's proposal is "absolutely" tied to the Legislature's relinquishing its tuition-setting power for UT campuses.

Rep. Tom Craddick, the Midland Republican who is expected to be named House Speaker, supports giving the regents the authority to set tuition, but he would not comment on Yudof's scholarship proposal.

Neither would state Sen. Steve Ogden, the Bryan Republican who co-chaired an interim legislative committee on higher education and earlier this week released a limited tuition deregulation proposal. Both lawmakers said they weren't familiar enough with the details of the scholarship plan.

Though university officials have not said whether they would raise tuition if given the authority, there were hints Friday that higher tuition rates would help pay to educate less affluent students. In addition to state and federal grants and private gifts, revenue from tuition would help underwrite the scholarships, UT officials said.

At UT-Austin, 16,490 full-time resident undergraduates -- 38 percent of the undergraduates from Texas -- receive some financial aid. About 36 percent of students receiving financial aid have a family income of below $40,000. UT officials stressed that tax credits and other methods of financial aid are available to the more affluent.

Yudof and Miller said the guarantee will be an incentive for part-time students to consider full-time status and to lure those who might not have considered a UT System campus. They also hope it will encourage more low-income students to pursue college degrees.

"I want to market this," Yudof said. "I really want to go into South Texas and have our people market it into those communities. . . . If you can get in and you're making less than $41,000, you're not going to pay any tuition."

sjayson@statesman.com; 445-3620