A recent column piece, "Indiscriminate tuition cuts would not benefit low-income students", by Alexander Chase of The Daily Texan, has me contemplating my own position in the matter. I am currently a student with Austin Community College and I plan on transferring to UT but the added cost to the already priced high tuition has me re-evaluating my options.
I believe if there should be any change in the price in tuition, it should be lowered, not raised! If a full time student were to take out just loans to finance their education at UT, the average debt load they will shoulder would be around $40,000 according to UT's current tuition rates. I believe making education more affordable should be a priority for the state and we're not making any progress by raising the cost of tuition. Low income demographics are already burdened enough just to make ends meet and this increase will only divide the student body even further. The UT Advisory Council should seek other sources for potential income then to shoulder more debt onto the broken backs of their students.
I'm also wondering the logic of thinking that raising the cost somehow correlates into better education, better faculty and overall improvement with UT. Most education can easily be gained online for FREE; one only has to apply themselves, study, and do the work. Attempting to attract quality faculty through higher salaries contains a lot of uncertainty and risk due to the fact that high cost does not equal high quality.
Overall, I believe the entire education system needs to be overhauled and Texas should lead the way. Qualifying all students with government backed loans only incentives Universities and schools throughout the county to increase tuition as much as they can 'appropriately'. Of course, there are also students who can only attend with those very loans but I believe a common ground can be reached between the two. There are many roadblocks in life but the first step into a school shouldn't be one of them.
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