How Many Rocks For A B.A.?

It's a week old, but I haven't seen anyone write on it around these parts (author's revision: Josh wrote about it in his Morning Roundup last Wednesday), so here it is: One of our state legislators publicly stated last week that increasing tuition rates is "like crack" for Texas universities.

From the Austin-American Statesman's excellent Postcards from the Lege blog:

State Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, wasn’t in a mood to dance around his point at a legislative hearing this morning on tuition and other higher education matters.

“This is like crack for the universities,” he said. “They just can’t seem to get enough of these tuition increases.”

-snip-

Average tuition and fees per semester for full-time students from Texas at public universities have risen 69 percent, to $5,327, since the 2002-03 school year, according to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

The article notes that Williams was one of the House members who voted for busting the cap in 2003 and that he now feels "it's one of the worst public policy decisions we've made."

Here's the 800 pound gorilla: What goes unwritten here and unspoken in most of the grousing about tuition increases over the last four years is that universities are having to shake down students with increasing alacrity to make up the gap between the costs of higher education and what the Lege funds for higher education.

What do you want: Ridiculously low taxes or affordable higher education? It's guns or butter time, folks.

It's been eight years since the then-candidate for President George W. Bush responded to Vice President Al Gore's statement that Bush's tax cuts as Governor would wreak havoc in Texas by joking that "I hope I'm not there to deal with it."

As is usually the case when Republicans run things, the joke is on Texas families. It is way past time that Texas Republicans quit it with the economic snake-handling and get real about how Texas is going to lead off the first decade of the 21st century. Assuming that elected officials are most responsive to those who elect them, I think that we can expect to see some changes on this front since the proportion of Texas families being priced out of higher education opportunities for their children is increasing with each annual tuition hike.