UT Admins Want Tution Deregulated

They want more control to address their own budget problems

The state's $10 billion budget shortfall will mean hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts for the University of Texas system.

UT administrators want to set their own tuition rates to address the cuts, but students fear their pocketbooks will bear the burden.

HOLY SHIT! You mean...a quality education might be expensive?

Fucking whiney students. I went to UT-Austin for two semesters and yeah it was expensive. My dad saved and invested his money so I would be able to pay for college. Paying for college is a bitch and there is no way I could afford to do it on my own, not now any any rate.

It's fine to complain about unreasonable increases in student fees. However, since UT is a public school system, those fees are unreasonably low to begin with since they are subsidized by the state. Texans across the state help pay for the 50,000 students in UT-Austin, so the costs students themselves pay are far lower than the actual cost of their education. Therefore, it's entirely likely that tutition increases will reflect more on the financial reality of teaching college and housing potheads rather than the political expediency of pandering to students, alumni, and the public.

For years, the Texas Legislature has set a cap on how much public universities can charge their students in tuition. In these tough financial times, administrators at UT want to change that and let their Board of Regents set tuition rates, just as universities in 29 other states do.

It's called tuition deregulation.

"It's an illusion to think we can maintain this place. What will happen is what inevitably happens, the classes get larger, some electives are cut, there are fewer financial aid officers to administer the financial aid. Unfortunately, when you're in a tight situation like this, it's sort of a no-win situation for the students," UT Chancellor Mark Yudof said.

This is such a simple and easy to understand concept. I love the term "tutition deregulation"! Fits so nicely alongside utility deregulation, telecom deregulation, firearm deregulation, transportation deregulation, etc. Freedom means less regulation and more responsibility.

However, some students don't buy it. A group gathered outside the UT tower Tuesday to protest a closed door meeting on tuition deregulation.

"Whenever there are financial constraints within the system, the regents have been inclined to go straight to the students and tax the students' pocketbooks first without exploring other options. Whereas our democratically-elected Legislators are able to explore those other options because they want to be elected by the 180,000 constituents they have going to these schools," UT Student Body President Katie King said.

Notice the "tax" rhetoric used here. It isn't a tax, you fuckhead! You OWE the University for services rendered and requested! Not only that, but you're already getting a prime deal by having others help pay for your gawddamn fees. Sure, it's a public school and we're all supposed to be able to get some level of secondary education there, equality, low-income, yadda yadda yadda...but either the money comes from the actual people who use the services, or it comes from someone else.

Which means the public. Which means me. And I want no part of it.

Posted by Drizzten at February 19, 2003 01:31 AM