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February 17, 2007
Whe Needs College?
Two sessions ago, the Texas Legislature decided, in its infinite wisdom, to deregulate college tuition at Texas' public universities. The purpose was to decrease the state's share of involvement in covering costs for these public institutions, so it could save money. The result, of course, has been that those public college and universities have shifted those costs onto students in the form of higher tuition.
College tuition at state schools has risen an average of 37% since dereg took effect, and at places like UT and A&M considerably more than that. For most everyday Texas families, a college education for their kids is getting further and further out of reach. Unless a student is willing to incur an enormous student loan debt, forget it.
One program that helped keep college affordable is the Texas Tomorrow Fund -- a plan created a decade ago that has allowed Texas families to pre-pay years in advance for tuition at certain state colleges and universities. Parents could begin paying into the fund years before their kids entered college, locking in lower tuition rates, and allowing the money to earn interest over time.
Trouble is, the fund has been closed for new enrollment since that tuition deregulation went into effect in 2003. Now the newly elected Texas State Comproller -- Susan Combs -- has issued new report strongly recommending the fund remain permanently closed, citing a large and growing future shortfall. Hmm... future shortfall... where have we heard that in recent legislative sessions?
At some point Texans have got to ask themselves what kind of state we want going forward. Is a situation where 40% of our kids are not graduating from high school, and the cost of a college education is increasingly prohibitive for most families likely to produce a skilled, well-educated middle-class workforce? Or is Texas headed for huge wealth and income disparity, where a small upper class goes gangbusters while an unskilled, uneducated underclass makes up more and more of the state's population?
Based on the policies of state government in the last several years, the answer is obvious.
Posted by houtopia at February 17, 2007 11:23 AM