University of Texas System regents froze tuition rates for most students at the flagship Austin campus for the next two years, voting instead to provide a short-term boost of cash from its multi-billion dollar endowment fund.
The University of Texas asked for tuition increases ranging from about 2.6 percent to 3.6 percent starting in the fall of 2012. But regents voted instead Thursday to hold down costs for undergraduate resident students by dipping into the Permanent University Fund.
“Today, the University of Texas System regents have done right by the students at UT-Austin and their parents. Tuition and student loan debt at Texas universities have reached record highs, and higher education costs have far outpaced inflation and every other sector of the economy. This two-year tuition freeze is a much needed and long-overdue reprieve," said Thomas K. Lindsay, Ph.D, Texas Foundation of Public Policy.
The regents said there is no guarantee the endowment money will be available in the future and ordered the school to keep looking for ways to cut costs.
Regents approved higher tuition rates at the other eight system campuses, but said those schools should look for ways to mitigate the higher costs.
