Regents vote to freeze tuition

LUBBOCK, Texas — Texas Tech University's Board of Regents on Friday bucked a statewide trend and voted to freeze tuition for next school year.

Student and parking fees, as well as room and board charges, also will not go up for 2008-2009.

The regents stepped back from an earlier proposal to increase tuition and fees by 4.4 percent. School administrators say Friday's vote means they may have to draw about $2 million from reserves to offset the estimated loss of $5.6 million from potential revenue.

Tuition and fees for a full-time student this year totaled about $7,100, more than double the about $3,270 students paid in 2000-2001.

Across the state, tuitions have gone up more than 40 percent since lawmakers voted in 2003 to let colleges set their own tuitions.

System Chancellor Kent Hance, a former U.S. congressman, said he's hopeful regents won't need to make up for the freeze when setting next year's rates.

"I've been in politics and government long enough to know you never say never, but that's certainly not the plan," he said. "I think we have to look at it each year."

Hance, who has set a goal to grow enrollment from about 28,000 to 40,000 by 2020, said the move could keep college more affordable.

"We're pricing ourselves out of the market with some students," Hance said. "I think it will get a lot of people's attention, and I think it does help us with recruiting."

In March, the University of Texas System Board of Regents approved increases for the two-year period starting next fall at the system's nine academic campuses, ranging from less than 5 percent a year at UT Austin and others to more than 13 percent a year at UT Brownsville.

Texas A&M University also increased tuition and fees for next year by the lowest amount since 1999. Tuition and fees will go up 4.99 percent, or $7.25 per semester hour.

Tech regents are scheduled to approve the 2008-2009 budget in August. Hance said that will include a proposal to increase pay for faculty and staff.

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