After a decade of rising tuition costs, Gov. Rick Perry has pushed universities to offer fixed-rate tuition to help students and their families budget for college.
The University of Texas System on Thursday ordered their campuses to offer a four-year, fixed-rate tuition option by fall of 2014 in an effort to encourage students to graduate on time.
The UTDallas campus has been using a mandatory fixed-rate tuition plan since 2008 and UTEl Paso has been offering an optional plan since 2006.
Texas A&M has not yet released a fixed-rate tuition plan.
“We are obviously aware of the action taken last week by the UT System, and our team is in the process of running various financial models in order to properly evaluate such a possibility for Texas A&M, said Jason Cook, vice president for marketing and communications. We have not yet reached a conclusion at this stage.
Cook said A&M has a reputation for having one of the best higher education values in the country and remains committed to quality and affordability for students.
In recent years, Texas college students have faced significant tuition spikes, with the average student at a state university paying 55 percent more than a decade ago, according to a Dallas Morning News analysis.
Until 2003, Texas had set tuition caps to help make a college education more affordable. Due to a significant budget gap that year lawmakers cut state funding to universities, thus allowing campuses to set their own tuition rates.