Tuition Freeze May Not Be A Solution

By Signal Staff

College tuition may be overwhelming, but in all honesty, what you pay for is what you get.
At the University of Houston-Clear Lake, students are well equipped with the tools they need to complete their education, earn a degree and find a job in the work force. As undergraduates, this is our ultimate goal.
With this in mind, the opportunities granted to those who successfully obtain a diploma far outweighs the overall cost of receiving a higher education.
As students, we must take into account that the tuition we pay enables universities to create an environment for our success. From the countless number of computers located in the labs on campus, to the most up-to-date software programs and well-educated professors, the money we spend goes much further then you think.   
Governor Rick Perry and the state Legislature are interested in implementing a tuition freeze. This particular proposal would freeze a student’s college tuition rate for four years at the rate they paid as entering freshmen.  
However, if a student takes a leave of absence or drops below full-time status (12 hours), his/her tuition adjusts to the rate that is in effect at that time.
Perry was all for the deregulation bill in 2003, which allowed colleges and universities to set their own rates without legislative approval. Now he’s a firm believer that higher education tuition should be re-regulated.
This creates grave concerns among universities in Texas because they benefit from deregulation in the face of lost state funding.
In fact, deregulation allows universities the opportunity to craft tuition incentives that meet the needs of various students.
Furthermore, it enables colleges to raise funds to hire top professors in a highly competitive and expensive market for faculty.
Ultimately, a tuition freeze could cause serious problems in the quality of education by creating cut backs in spending, which in turn, could reduce the value of a degree received from a public college in Texas.
Who wants this?
We have the essential tools we need to be successful students at UHCL because of deregulation. Returning control of university funding over to the Texas Legislature would absolutely undermine advances that a college could make and it would put higher education in competition with other legislative priorities.
Universities must fight desperately to maintain control over tuition so that they can continue to offer students the best possible education.