Texas Senate to Discuss Re-Regulating Tuition

By Andrew Roush in Promote & Protect, Special on November 21, 2012 at 1:45 pm | No Comments

State Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) has revived the discussion of tuition re-regulation. Members have indicated that there may be increased support in the upcoming session.

A decade ago, the Legislature shifted the responsibility for setting tuition prices at Texas public universities to the institutions themselves. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board reports that average undergraduate tuition has risen 90 percent since deregulation. At the same time, state universities have seen declining general revenue funding from the state.

Now, the tide may be turning back toward regulation. Sen. Rodney Ellis, Democrat of Houston, MPA, JD, has commented on the issue, noting the possibly of greater support than ever to change the state’s deregulation scheme.

“It’s past time for the Legislature to stop abdicating its responsibility and instead make some tough decisions on tuition,” said Ellis. “With the number of fresh faces in both houses this upcoming session, I think enough members are willing to explore new ideas on how to keep the cost of higher education affordable for Texas families.”

Ellis is joined by members from across the state and across the aisle, including conservative Sen. Tommy Williams, Republican of the Woodlands, who called his vote to deregulate tuition one the worst of his career.

Republican Sen. Kel Seliger of Amarillo said a discussion is possible in light of rising tuition costs. Elected in 2004, after deregulation was passed, Seliger said that had he been in the Senate and known the effect deregulation on tuition, he would not have voted for it.

“I think the folks in higher education hear very clearly that the rate of increase is just not acceptable,” Seliger said, noting that there were a number of possible outcomes from a discussion of tuition prices. Saying the Legislature should work with universities to understand the issues, Seliger observed “different institutions have different costs, some a great deal more than others, and we need to understand that.”

According to Seliger, the issue may be heard in the Senate higher education committee or finance committee, of which Seliger is a member and Williams is chair.

But tuition price controls may not mean actual savings for students and families. Prior to tuition deregulation, public universities made up for lagging state revenue support by raising fees on just about everything, meaning incoming freshman had to dig through a more than 50-page book of fees to find out how much they were paying.

Sen. Judith Zaffirini, Democrat of Laredo, BS ’67, MA ’70, PhD ’78, Life Member, told the Texas Tribune she reluctantly voted for deregulation. The former higher education committee chair cautioned that tuition should be considered relative to state funding and financial aid, both of which have seen major cuts in the decade since deregulation.

Since 1985, state funding has increased at a rate lower than inflation and significantly lower than the size of the UT-Austin budget, dropping from 47 percent to 13 percent of UT’s costs. At the same time, tuition and fees have offset state support, rising from three percent in 1985 to 25 percent today.

Editor’s Note: Thanks to reader Peggy Venable for spotting some typographical errors in our original post.

Tags: amarillo, deregulation, houston, Judith Zaffirni, Kel Seliger, Laredo, legislature, Rodney Ellis, Texas Senate, The Woodlands, Tommy Williams, tuition