Has an odd bout of fiscal responsibility broken out at Texas public institutions of higher learning?

After five years of spending like drunken sailors, Texas public university administrator are finally showing some restraint, albeit the grudging variety.

Of course, there was the incident in the fall of 2007 when the Tuition Policy Advisory Committee at the University of Texas at Austin tried to float an almost 10 percent tuition increase. Lots of legislators criticized the move, but that had happened in the past, too.

Only two elected officials in state government expressed excitement in public about tuition deregulation – allowing universities to raise tuition without prior legislative approval. But they were the Governor and the Speaker of the House, so back in 2003 and 2004, most universities thought they could send tuition through the roof without legislative repercussions.

But unlike in 2003, last year the University of Texas System Board of Regents reined in the profligate spenders in the UT administration. The regents placed a five percent cap on tuition increases, much to the chagrin of President Bill Powers.

Perhaps the most surprising event this year was came from the regents at Texas Tech University – at the behest of chancellor Kent Hance – who decided to forego any tuition and fee increase at all for the 2008-09 school year.

Said regents chairman Scott Dueser. “The board believes to support the chancellor’s vision to grow the size and quality of our student body we must keep tuition affordable for students from middle income families who have traditionally been the backbone of this university.”

 Texas Tech has had friends in influential positions in state government for the past two decades. The most recent two speakers, Tom Craddick and Pete Laney are graduates of Texas Tech. Several of the major players in the state budget process the last two decades -- former Sen. John Montford (D-Lubbock), former Rep. Robert Junell (D-San Angelo), Sen. Robert Duncan (R-Lubbock), and Rep. Carl Isett (R-Lubbock), just to name a few, were either from Lubbock, Texas Tech alumni, or both.

Of the five largest universities in the state, Texas Tech received the largest percentage increase in appropriations from state fiscal year 2003 to state fiscal year 2008.

Still, no one in Austin would have likely batted an eyelash had Tech chosen a modest tuition increase. After all, most lawmakers breathed a sigh of relief when the University of Texas lowered its tuition hike to five percent. Instead, Texas Tech chose to tighten its belt and control spending – something quite rare in the world of higher education.

“We’ve drawn a line in the sand this year, and hope that it makes a difference,” said Hance. “Texas Tech is trying to give more deserving high school students the opportunity to attend a high-quality university. We are afraid that raising tuition year after year is slowly taking away that opportunity. We also hope that freezing tuition and fees will enable our current students to stay in school and complete their education.”

Texas A&M University also kept its tuition increase to a minimum ($7.25 per credit hour), after years of steep tuition increases. But even that was controversial. At a recent regents meeting, when one regent mentioned that students had spoken favorably of raising tuition, regent Gene Stallings suggested that regents hear from the parents who have to pay the higher tuition.

No one in Austin has given a convincing explanation as to why the sudden austerity from institutions of higher learning. And the controversy over tuition deregulation certainly has not dissipated.

The tuition increases have stretched the state’s financial aid programs to the breaking point, causing low-income students not to get state grants. And middle class families are going into further debt and feeling the pinch from the prior increases.

And, yes, university administrators have tried to blame the Legislature for this problem, even though state appropriations for three of the five largest universities have increased faster than the Consumer Price Index from 2003 to 2008.

The chart below explains this trend. Below are the five largest state universities. We pulled their tuition and mandatory fees from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s website for the Fall 2003 semester (the last semester before tuition deregulation) for 15 credit hours.

We visited each school’s website and looked up the Fall 2008 tuition and mandatory fees approved by the regents. We compare the two below, as well as state general revenue (tax dollar) appropriation figures for fiscal year 2003 to fiscal year 2008 (in millions), taken from the archived appropriations bills on the Legislative Budget Board’s website. Note that the Consumer Price Index increased 16.7 percent from 2003 to Feb. 2008 (the most recent figures available).

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