Texas A&M President Dr. Robert M. Gates announced Tuesday a potential tuition fee increase of nearly $20 per credit hour.
The $19.50 increase will take effect fall 2004, pending approval of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents.
“This is a significant increase,” Gates said. “I acknowledge that.”Last year, students paid $46 per credit hour. Now, with this proposal, coupled with the increase of $9 per credit hour last semester, tuition would increase to $74.50 dollars per credit hour.
The revenue from this increase provides for the faculty reinvestment program, which is aimed to attract more high-quality, tenure track professors to the University, Gates said.
Currently, A&M leads the nation in classes with more than 50 students. A&M also has the lowest percent of classes that have less than 20 students. With this new initiative, Gates said he plans to bring these numbers into balance to make A&M a more competitive university. Already, the student-faculty ratio has dropped from 22-to-1 to 21-to-1, Gates said.
“If the students are going to pay more,then the students should see the benefit,” he said.
Beyond the increase in faculty, $3.4 million will be designated to increase financial aid, Gates said.
Gates has announced previously the Regents Scholars Program, which is designed to help offset increases in tuition by providing financial aid to students who come from low-income households. The administration wants to continue to accommodate as many students as possible, Gates said.
The need to increase tuition comes from a decrease in state funding. The state revenue level is the most significant factor in the University’s budget. Without that funding, A&M is forced to find the difference elsewhere, resulting in students paying more tuition.
The actions of the state Legislator’s next session will affect whether or not tuition continues to rise.
“The amount of this increase isn’t to be taken lightly,” said Student Body President Matt Josefy.”But the more students that are educated about this, the more education opinions we’ll have.”
There were 81 students who attended the forum, which was more students than Josefy had ever remembered seeing at an event of this nature. Not all students in attendance agreed with Gates’ proposal.
Mark McCaig, a junior business major, said a lot of students are going to have a hard time affording such an increase in tuition.
“The 35 percent increase over the latest increase is exorbitant,” McCaig said.
Gates said the increase would have been higher, except the Student Government Association encouraged the administration to keep it minimal for this semester because families had already set their budgets.
“I view my role as disseminating information to as many students as possible,” Josefy said. “It is imperative that students use the Tuition Policy Advisory Committee to make their suggestions, concerns and opinions known.”
A link to the Tuition Policy Advisory Committee’s Web site will be available from the Student Government Association Web site, http://sga.tamu.edu.