Regents approve UTB-TSC tuition increase

BROWNSVILLE - The cost of an education at UTB-TSC is going up.

On Wednesday, the University of Texas System Board of Regents approved tuition increases for the two-year period starting next fall at each of the UT System's nine academic campuses, including the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College.

Tuition and fees at UTB-TSC will rise $313 to $2,735 for fall 2008, then rise $92 to $2,827 in fall 2009. The figures are for 15 semester credit hours.

The board last year adopted an annual increase limit of 4.95 percent or $150, whichever is greater. Six campuses were allowed to exceed that limit by exempting student-approved fees, including UTB-TSC.

Rosemary Martinez, UTB-TSC vice president for business affairs, said the regents allowed UTB-TSC to modify its tuition increase slightly.

In addition to exempting a student-approved athletic fee of $75 in 2008 and $105 in 2009, the regents allowed UTB-TSC to exceed the $150 cap by $58 during the first year, then keep the increase to $92 in the second year for a total increase over the two years of $405 - which is $150 per year plus the $105 athletic fee, she said.

UTB-TSC students in 2006 approved an athletic fee of $5 per credit hour - $75 per semester for 15 credit hours in 2008 - and $7 per credit hour in 2009, for $105 per 15 hours. The Texas Legislature subsequently approved the fee.

Tuition and fees at UTB-TSC increase from $2,422 currently for 15 credit hours, to $2,735 in fall 2008. Excluding the athletic fee, the increase is 8.4 percent. For fall 2009 and excluding the athletic fee, tuition and fees of $2,827 represent a 9.3 percent increase.

The increase makes UTB-TSC the second most inexpensive campus in the UT System behind the University of Texas Pan-American in Edinburg. Tuition and fees there will rise 6.09 percent to $2,612 in fall 2008 and 5.74 percent to $2,761 in fall 2009.

Martinez said allowing an increase of $150 per year, unless 4.95 percent is greater, made the increase more equitable for UT System campuses like UTB-TSC, which are trying to keep tuition affordable while keeping pace with rising costs.

As part of its tuition proposal, UTB-TSC noted more than $1.2 million in cost-saving initiatives over the last six years and said it would continue to look for ways to save money.

"We want to continue to grow and we can't do that if students can't afford to come to school," Martinez said of efforts to keep tuition reasonable.

She said the tuition proposal was developed with input from a Tuition Policy Advisory Committee that included students as half of its members. She and Charles Dameron, vice president of academic affairs, headed the group.

UTB-TSC had nearly completed its proposal when the board of regents told campuses to keep increases within 4.95 percent or $150 per year, Martinez said.

"We were already really close and only had to decrease our proposal by 50 cents per credit hour," she said. "It required very little modification to find the amount of increase necessary to continue the growth of UTB-TSC."

Under the increases regents approved Wednesday, the costliest semester within the system will be at UT Dallas, where tuition and fees will total almost $5,000 after increases of 4.95 percent each year.

At the system's flagship campus, UT Austin, tuition and fees will total $4,266 this fall and $4,477 in 2009 after a 4.95 percent increase each year.