Students from families earning less than $40,000 would qualify

By Janet Elliott, Austin Bureau
Houston Chronicle
December 14, 2002

AUSTIN - Students from families who earn $40,000 or less could get a free education from the University of Texas System under a tuition restructuring proposal presented Friday to the board of regents.

The program would be paid for through tuition increases at some campuses such as the popular UT-Austin, officials said.

The guaranteed free education for students from families with an annual income below the Texas median family income is designed to help persuade the Legislature to allow UT to set its own tuition and fees. Chancellor Mark Yudof said UT could pay for the program from tuition increases.

Yudof said Texas would be the only state promising a free education to half of all families.

"I think it's a pretty unique, somewhat revolutionary proposal," said Yudof.

UT's data show that the average student from a family earning less than $40,000 already has grants and scholarships that cover fees and tuition. However, Yudof expects the free education guarantee to attract more students into attending college.

"I think we're going to enroll a lot more young people from relatively modest means," said Yudof.

The Legislature keeps a cap on tuition, set to be $92 per semester hour next year. For years, UT has wanted the flexibility to set its own fees and tuition.

Asked by reporters what benefit the plan, dubbed "The New Handshake for Texas," would have for middle-income families, Yudof said it would improve the quality of higher education.

"What they'd basically get is a better education," said Yudof.

Without the ability to raise tuition at the popular UT-Austin and other top-tier universities, "this system will deteriorate," said Yudof.

The UT System gets only about 25 percent of its $7 billion budget from state tax dollars.

Another aspect of the program would exempt many current students from modest-income families from tuition increases.

Yudof said students from families earning more than $130,000 would be most adversely affected because few qualify for need-based grants and scholarships.

The UT system has six health institutions, including M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and nine academic institutions.

The annual cost to undergraduates ranges from $2,562 at UT-Pan American in Edinburg to $5,340 at UT-Austin. A 15 percent tuition increase would add $801 to the bill at UT-Austin.

The regents may consider adopting the legislative proposal when they meet in February.

Reaction to the tuition deregulation proposal, which UT began discussing earlier in the week, has varied.

Sen. Steve Ogden, co-chairman of a legislative committee that studied higher education funding, said he would oppose deregulating tuition except for summer classes and for out-of-state students. Ogden, a Bryan Republican, said public schools ought to remain affordable.

Rep. Tom Craddick, a Midland Republican who is expected to be speaker of the Texas House, was quoted in the Austin American-Statesman Thursday as saying the regents ought to set tuition. Craddick's office said he wasn't commenting on the restructuring proposal unveiled Friday.

Kathy Walt, spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry, said the governor thinks restructuring is an "interesting idea but also wants to make certain that colleges and universities remain affordable for Texans."

Perry is proposing a continued emphasis on the TEXAS grant, which pays tuition costs for students with high academic achievements, and a program for first-generation college students. He also wants to expand work-study programs and to provide zero-interest loans to eligible students.

Yudof said the impact of the plan on the state's prepaid college tuition program needs to be assessed.