President Bill Powers slams Perry initiative

M

mcbrett

2,500+ Posts
Many of us received this in an email moments ago- it is also in the Statesman and Dallas MN.
No commentary needed by me- President Powers speaks quite well for himself and the University:

In reply to:
 
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President Powers!

And if we had middle finger smilie, I would give it to Gov. Perry.
 
Bill gets 14% from the the State of Texas, the rest comes from elsewhere. Why not just be done with the downward trending state funding and go private? That's about $300 million Texans pay a year so elite Texas youth and a horde of Chinese youth can get a degree at a very exclusive and elitist so called public University. Make the elites pay for all of their own education instead of leaching off the public.

2010-2011 Budget data
 
what is the cost of tuition a semester for in state residents? Say 18 credit hours..

if my memory serves back in the late '80s, my semester tutition bill usually came to around $500 to $600.

Just curious what the bill would be for say for an incoming freshman taking 18 hours this fall.
 
Tuition between 300-400 dollars per credit hour at UT right now, and it's up about 40% over the past several years. Fees are up at a substantially higher rate, but they also vary a lot more from program to program.
 
15 hours is about $4700 per semester all in with fees and stuff.
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ok, someone correct my math but in 1990, my full load of 15 hours was 800. The rate on inflation from the fall of 1990 to January 2011 is about 67.34%. Based upon inflation, 15 hours of courses today should cost about $1400. So bascally, the cost today has blown the inflation rate out of the water. Why are the costs so high?
 
To hell with that go private idea. Thats what that clown Perry probably wants. Why mess with a good thing. Leave the University alone you right wing a-----!
 
Because, as President Powers explained in his last email- the State has reduced funding to the University significantly over time
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This may be true although over the last 10 years at least, the state has increased its budget every year for the last 10 years for higher education state wide over and above the the rate of inflation. This is for the state universities, not the 2nd tear and junior colleges. Tx has the largest endowment in the nation. I think it is close to 20 billion and includes oil and gold holdings as well as land. There is also 2 billion from private donations. I don't know where all the money goes but UT doesnt have a money problem.
 
general, you don't understand funding for the university. The PUF is earmarked only for physical expansion-building new structures. It doesn't go to the day to day operating expenses of the university. That was mostly paid for by the state in past years, I think it was about 70% when I attended. Now it will be 13% of day to day costs. The students make up the rest of those costs with tuition.
State funding down, student costs up. It isn't that hard to understand.
Regarding Powers statement, I worry that he will be ousted, as past UT presidents have by politicians. Everyone on the Forty Acres is afraid to speak out against Perry and his appointees, because their next step will be firing those who oppose their hijacking of the University.
And on this issue, A&M is in the same boat.
 
i knew harvard was higher, tx has the largest public school endowment and i thought 2nd nationally, if yale surpassed us, i wasnt aware. but harvard doesnt have that much more, about 26 billion. UT austin could follow the UVA model and jack up their tuition and make it more of an elite school academic wise.
 
i imagine if you dug deep you would fine that the costs of operations for the university of texas have gomne up considerably due to administrative paper pusher types, more police, staff, etc. i know student fees are a lot higher because every group that has a cause or wants one gets money.
 
Colleges, generally speaking, are in for a world of hurt if they don't begin to control tuition and fees. The low-level grumbles about having to take out 25 grand in student loans will turn into full-scale revolt if we're not careful. The higher ed bubble will only burst if we allow costs to exceed inflation by so much each year. Otherwise, if we get a handle on excess administrative staff and actually make certain professors teach actual students from time to time, there really is no bubble. And research-- I am all for research at UT and other universities, but sometimes "research" is an excuse for not teaching more than something that is really happening.

We're in a belt-tightening mode as a country, and our universities aren't going to be immune. They can either adapt and thrive or whine and get left behind.

I'd rather have UT out on the forefront of containing costs, being more accountable and efficient, and improving actual student learning and value, than sticking our fingers in our ears, closing our eyes, and saying, "la la la la la, I can't hear you." That is not sustainable.
 
"And research-- I am all for research at UT and other universities, but sometimes "research" is an excuse for not teaching more than something that is really happening. "

OK Rick, now tell us more about those $10,000 degrees so we can all get one of those minimum wage jobs you're so busy recruiting to Texas.
 
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