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|"The Price Is Not Right"
Published in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on December 19, 2004
By James D. Spaniolo
The Star-Telegram's Dec. 9 editorial, "The Price Is Not Right," makes some valid points about how public higher education in Texas is struggling with higher costs in a time of government cutbacks.
But here are some additional facts showing that education at U.T. Arlington is still a bargain and a worthwhile investment for students and their families. The value of a bachelor's degree can add $1 million to a graduate's lifetime earnings, and a professional degree is estimated to be worth more than $3 million.
The fears that prospective students will be priced out of UTA simply do not square with our experiences. Enrollment at UTA has grown at an annual average of 5 percent for the past several years. It is illogical for any institution or corporation to raise their prices higher than their market can bear.
Tuition flexibility enabled UTA to set rates based on our-and our students'-individual needs. We raised tuition moderately and only after we conferred with students, parents, alumni and faculty and received the approval of the U.T. System Board of Regents. At UTA, 20 percent of any tuition increase goes back to students as financial aid.
This increased funding was vital to allow us to hire more faculty members and maintain or improve our on-campus facilities. This is a fact your newspaper pointed out in a Nov. 24 story on how tuition flexibility has brought about an increase in faculty, help ease over-crowded classrooms and improved the university's outlook for raising more research dollars.
Even after these modest increases, tuition at UTA remains a bargain. Resident undergraduates taking a full 15-hour course load pay $2,650 a semester in tuition in fees; though, the average UTA student will pay 30 percent less than this amount. At the same time, an ambitious program of federal grants and tax credits are now available to lower- and middle-income families.
We also recognize that one of the greatest economic burdens on families occur when a student takes longer than four years to graduate. That's why UTA offers incentives for four-year graduation, such as the "B-on-Time" loan forgiveness program, flat tuition rates and off-hour classes. Because of these programs and incentives, students rarely pay the widely publicized sticker price for higher education.
UTA is accountable to the state for how well we are educating our students, how we are spending our money, how we are succeeding-and sometimes, how we need to improve. You can see UTA's accountability reports by going to www.utsystem.edu.
In a time of 2 percent inflation, the Legislative Budget Board is asking us to cut our budgets by another 5 percent in the next fiscal year, and state support has slipped to 18.8 percent of our current total System budget from 38 percent in 1986. In the meantime, enrollments are steadily growing and we are doing all we can to keep UTA affordable and accessible, while at the same time cover our enrollment growth and increase our academic standing.
James D. Spaniolo is president of The University of Texas at Arlington
