Tuition Freeze Can Wait! Deal with Budget First!

Politics before action, as usual

The Board of Regents, the 17-member board that sets university system policy, sets tuition rates each year based on the amount of money allocated by the state and the extent to which those funds cover system expenses. In recent years, however, the legislature has taken more proactive steps to influence hikes.

"The only way we were able to do a tuition freeze last year is we had money to provide the system so they wouldn't have to get it from the students and the parents," Sen. Patrick Hogan (D-Montgomery), the vice-chairman of the Budget and Taxation Committee, said in an interview. "Before we can even talk about a tuition freeze, we have to make sure [we have] the funding from the general fund."

You know there's a solution to the problem, fully funding public university funding. But they don't want to. These Republicrats don't have the political will power to do so.