A Texas degree could cost $100,000

According to April Castro tuition has increased by more than forty percent in Texas since lawmakers voted in 2003 to allow colleges to set their own tuition. On Wednesday, March 26, 2008 the UT board of Regents authorized increases in student tuition across Texas. The increase will be anywhere from five percent to thirteen percent. Why the increase? Presidents of the campuses reported that they needed the extra funding in order to offer their staff competitive salaries. I am sure the presidents themselves are included in that. I completely disagree with this. If the staff is not getting paid enough, it would be better to cut costs in other places then to raise student tuition. Democratic representative Garnet Coleman of Houston said,"Plain and simple, tuition deregulation...is the cause of skyrocketing tuition in Texas. In the next session of the Legislature, we must put an end to the increases in tuition and roll back the cost of higher education." He also estimated that a four year education could cost $100,000. Now I understand how someone can obtain a degree, work in the profession they studied for and be paying off their student loans for the rest of their life. This is one of the reasons debt has become the norm in our society. People rarely pay in full for things right away because it is so expensive, so we charge it and pay an outrageous interest rate which makes it almost impossible to eventually pay in full. If my education cost $100,000, I would not be able to attain higher education. I believe many people would not attend college if that was the case. It seems as though the campuses are more concerned about there being teachers, instead of students for the teachers to teach. I think the state government needs to take action and regulate Texas tuition.