Student government presidents from across the state, including Towson SGA President Darcy Accardi, joined the University System of Maryland Student Council in opposing a freeze on tuition in a letter to the Maryland General Assembly earlier this month.
The letter was sent in response to legislative analyst Erika Schissler's recommendation that state lawmakers put a cap on tuition costs.
Since 2002, tuition for full-time undergraduates has increased an average of 42 percent system-wide, according to the legislative analysis.
Next fall's 4.5 percent increase, approved by the Board of Regents last month, would be the smallest in four years, but it would be an increase nonetheless. So the Department of Legislative Services recommended a tuition freeze for the coming school year.
Almost immediately, USM Chancellor Brit Kirwan and institutional presidents expressed opposition to a freeze. The USM student council agreed.
A letter to legislators dated Feb. 2 said: "Tuition increases are not desirable for students and their families; however, given the circumstances our institutions are facing, we do not support a tuition freeze without additional state support as this would mean more cuts in the quality of our education. With that said, if the State were to provide the additional state support needed to implement a tuition freeze, students would support such action."
Additional state support is exactly what Sen. Sheila Hixson (D-Montgomery) wants to provide. Last week, she, with four co-sponsors, introduced a bill to prohibit a fall 2006 tuition increase, assuming that supplementary funds can be found elsewhere.
"The tuition freeze would be contingent on the passage of supplementary funds," Hixson said. "We're looking for funding mechanisms on how to do it."
Hixson's bill would prohibit the university system from imposing a tuition increase next fall, if a separate piece of legislation provides a supplementary appropriation of $18,898,865 to USM. Senate President Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) may introduce a funded tuition freeze bill into the Senate in the coming days, as well. Regent Jim Rosapepe, who unsuccessfully advocated for a funded tuition freeze at last month's board meeting, called the legislation "very realistic." "Its cost is less than $20 million, a pittance in the state budget," he said.
A tuition freeze without a replacement revenue source could amount to an 18.9 percent cut in USM's budget, Kirwan told the Senate's Budget & Taxation committee last week. The chancellor said a cut would force the system to curtail enrollment growth, workforce initiatives, and academic enhancements.
At the hearing, President Robert Caret seconded Kirwan's remarks.
"We are standing strongly with the system in asking you to maintain this budget and not curtail the tuition increase," he told the committee. "If you were to cap tuition, it would be an almost $3 million cut for [Towson's] campus, which would significantly hurt enrollment growth."
"No one supports" a freeze, Kirwan added, "not the board, not the presidents, not the system office, not the students."
"Unfortunately I have a few phone calls and letters that do," Sen. P.J. Hogan (D-Montgomery) retorted.
Freezing tuition would be preferable, Hogan said, assuming additional funds were available to offset the lost tuition revenue.
But "this budget is $100 million above spending affordability," he said. "If we could find a way to find another $17 to $18 million, that'd be great, but we're already $100 million over."
|
|
|
| Home | Copyright Brian Stelter |