Tuition Could Go Up For Texas Universities

AUSTIN (AP) – Proposed tuition hikes by the University of Texas system would have students paying more than the five percent increase cap officials set last year.

While averages across all majors at a campus can’t exceed five percent, increases for individual programs could be much higher.

For example, UT-Austin has proposed raising tuition and fees for architecture students by 7.5 percent next year. Engineering students would see a more modest four percent increase.

The UT system Board of Regents next week is expected to consider the tuition changes for the next two school years.

Until 2003, the Legislature decided how much public universities could charge. But then it let campuses set their own rates, as it allowed per-student funding from the state to lag.

Since then tuition and fees at public universities across Texas have risen 40 percent on average.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)