Spring Break
Board of Regents discuss fee increases
By: MacKenzie Garfield
Issue date: 3/30/07 Section: News
The Board of Regents met Thursday at a public hearing to discuss fee increases across the Texas A&M University system.
The hearing was preceded by a meeting of the Committee on Audit and an executive session.
A&M Interim President Eddie J. Davis presented a fee increase proposal to the Board of Regents. He proposed a fee increase based on meetings, hearings and precedents established by "peer institutions."
The proposal includes a maximum of $27.30 per credit hour increase for undergraduate resident part-time tuition and graduate students, and a maximum of $409.50 per semester increase for undergraduate full-time students.
Davis said the board is looking at options to keep the increases to a minimum, and hope to get the increases below $20 per credit hour. They have reworked the budget and estimate that the increases will be around $22.
"We are confident that we will get the tuition rate under $20 per credit hour," Davis said. "At $22, that would be approximately a 9.6 percent increase in tuition and fees."
Davis said he hopes the Texas legislature will continue to support the University.
The bulk of the proposed increase affects nonresident students.
Part-time and full-time nonresident students pay the same fees as resident students. With respect to fee increases for out-of-state students, Texas A&M had "fallen behind" in comparison to peer institutions, Davis said.
The proposed increase would raise part-time out-of-state fees as much as $227.30 per credit hour and full-time fees as much as $3,409.50 per semester. The resulting tuition would be $323 per credit hour for part-time students, and $4,845 per semester for full-time students.
While the final increase will be decided by the board, undergraduate out-of-state fees will automatically increase by $200 per credit hour above the undergraduate resident students.
Davis said this change will not affect out-of-state recruitment.
"This will not affect our capacity to recruit out of state," he said. "Only a small percentage of students pay out-of-state tuition because, they qualify for academic scholarships."
Davis also said the increases were not intended to raise a lot of revenue for A&M.
"This is not a budgetary matter," he said. "This will only result in about $1 million in revenue during the early years."
All of the schools in the A&M System are looking at fee increases. This includes Prairie View A&M, Tarleton State, Texas A&M International, the A&M campuses in Galveston, Commerce, Corpus Christi, Kingsville, Texarkana,West Texas A&M and the A&M Health Science Center.
Also, A&M is looking at proposed increases in Group Hospital Fees. The proposed increase would raise the fee from $60 per semester to $66 per semester. Other schools reviewing an increase in Group Hospital Fees are Tarleton State, Texas A&M Galveston and The Texas A&M Health Science Center.
The hearing was preceded by a meeting of the Committee on Audit and an executive session.
A&M Interim President Eddie J. Davis presented a fee increase proposal to the Board of Regents. He proposed a fee increase based on meetings, hearings and precedents established by "peer institutions."
The proposal includes a maximum of $27.30 per credit hour increase for undergraduate resident part-time tuition and graduate students, and a maximum of $409.50 per semester increase for undergraduate full-time students.
Davis said the board is looking at options to keep the increases to a minimum, and hope to get the increases below $20 per credit hour. They have reworked the budget and estimate that the increases will be around $22.
"We are confident that we will get the tuition rate under $20 per credit hour," Davis said. "At $22, that would be approximately a 9.6 percent increase in tuition and fees."
Davis said he hopes the Texas legislature will continue to support the University.
The bulk of the proposed increase affects nonresident students.
Part-time and full-time nonresident students pay the same fees as resident students. With respect to fee increases for out-of-state students, Texas A&M had "fallen behind" in comparison to peer institutions, Davis said.
The proposed increase would raise part-time out-of-state fees as much as $227.30 per credit hour and full-time fees as much as $3,409.50 per semester. The resulting tuition would be $323 per credit hour for part-time students, and $4,845 per semester for full-time students.
While the final increase will be decided by the board, undergraduate out-of-state fees will automatically increase by $200 per credit hour above the undergraduate resident students.
Davis said this change will not affect out-of-state recruitment.
"This will not affect our capacity to recruit out of state," he said. "Only a small percentage of students pay out-of-state tuition because, they qualify for academic scholarships."
Davis also said the increases were not intended to raise a lot of revenue for A&M.
"This is not a budgetary matter," he said. "This will only result in about $1 million in revenue during the early years."
All of the schools in the A&M System are looking at fee increases. This includes Prairie View A&M, Tarleton State, Texas A&M International, the A&M campuses in Galveston, Commerce, Corpus Christi, Kingsville, Texarkana,West Texas A&M and the A&M Health Science Center.
Also, A&M is looking at proposed increases in Group Hospital Fees. The proposed increase would raise the fee from $60 per semester to $66 per semester. Other schools reviewing an increase in Group Hospital Fees are Tarleton State, Texas A&M Galveston and The Texas A&M Health Science Center.
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