University of Texas Arlington

Wall Street Journal article highlights $10,000 degree plans

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is renewing his call for $10,000 undergraduate degrees, in what he hopes will be the state's signature response to the national problem of rising college tuition and student debt, The Wall Street Journal reported. The story said ten Texas colleges – including UT Arlington -- have responded to the governor's challenge, first made a year ago. As details of the colleges' plans have emerged, so have skeptics who question the financial and academic viability of pricing college at a fraction of the roughly $30,000 that students at Texas public universities pay on average over four years.

Steps could lead to high-speed rail

Arlington city officials are working with The University of Texas at Arlington to take a relatively small step toward a prominent role in the long-term effort to bring high-speed rail to the area, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. By next fall, they hope to hire an outside contractor to open a bus service connecting the university to the Trinity Railway Express, at the CentrePort station just south of Dallas/Fort Worth. The buses also could stop at a handful of other Arlington job areas but would not widely circulate throughout the city. Supporters hope the bus service -- which they've dubbed "regional connectivity" -- will show there's high demand for transit in Arlington.