LEGISLATURE HIGHER EDUCATION

Tuition regulation measures die

House passed a non-binding resolution Monday urging boards of regents to limit annual tuition increases to the greater of 3.95% or $280.

It seemed several weeks ago that the Texas Legislature was poised to freeze tuition, limit increases or otherwise rein in the rate-setting power that it granted public university governing boards in 2003.

After all, more than a dozen measures had been filed to regulate tuition, some with many sponsors. Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, both of whom supported the so-called deregulation of tuition six years ago, expressed support for a cap or freeze. And the Senate unanimously approved limits on tuition increases a month ago.

But the proposal never had much traction in the House. The Senate-approved bill sat for almost two weeks in the House Higher Education Committee before it was revised and voted out — too late to make it to the floor. And although the House passed a "concurrent resolution" Monday urging boards of regents to limit annual

tuition increases to 3.95 percent or $280, whichever is greater, the Senate did not follow suit. In any event, such resolutions are not binding.

"It's just extremely disappointing to have worked so hard to succeed in the face of controversy by bringing everyone together in the Senate to pass the bill 31 to 0, only to see it die in the House," said Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, author of Senate Bill 1443.

Rep. Patrick Rose, D-Dripping Springs, who also had filed tuition-control legislation, said the turn of events was more than disappointing.

"I'm infuriated by the fact that my bill and Sen. Zaffirini's bill were not allowed to proceed in a timely fashion," said Rose, a member of the Higher Education Committee.

Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, another member of the panel, said she liked Rose's measure, which would have limited tuition increases if legislative appropriations rose and allowed larger tuition increases if appropriations lagged. "Obviously, somebody did not want it to get out of committee," she said.

Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, chairman of the committee, said his strategy was to first advance proposals to scale back the state's automatic-admission law for public universities and to help some universities rise to top-tier status. He said that he had planned to push the tuition-control measure next but that it got caught up in Democratic-led delays designed to prevent consideration of a voter-identification proposal.

Rep. Ellen Cohen, D-Houston, a committee member who favors limits on tuition, said she didn't blame Branch for the failure of tuition-control legislation. "I thought he ran a very good committee," she said.

Passage of tuition limits would have represented a dramatic turn in legislative policy on the subject, considering that university governing boards were given essentially unfettered authority six years ago.

Since then, in-state tuition and mandatory fees have gone up an average of 86 percent, to about $6,300 a year. Although that's a sizable jump, it's not much greater than the 75 percent increase during the previous six years.

But the economic downturn has left many families worried about college expenses, prompting the flurry of bills to reassert control.

Zaffirini's plan would have reserved the strictest limits on tuition rises for the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, Texas State

University-San Marcos and other schools whose academic charges rank in the top half of the state's

35 public universities. Those schools could not have increased charges by more than 5 percent or the inflation rate, whichever was less.

The University of Texas System Board of Regents adopted a resolution May 14 urging lawmakers not to tamper with governing boards' tuition-setting power.

rhaurwitz@statesman.com; 445-3604