Texas Senate pushing bill that removes tuition set-asides for student financial aid

The Senate Committee on Higher Education recently voted of favor on a bill that would eliminate provisions requiring public institutions of higher education to set aside portions of designated tuition for student financial assistance.

State Sen. Kel Seliger (R-Amarillo), chair of the Senate Committee on Higher Education, authored Senate Bill 18 and filed it Jan. 19; the bill was co-authored by state Sens. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston), Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound) and Robert Nichols (R-Jacksonville). The bill was then voted on by the committee Feb. 22, and it received a vote of four yeas (Seliger, Bettencourt and state Sens. Dawn Buckingham and Larry Taylor), two nays (state Sens. Jose Menendez and Kirk Watson) and one present not voting (state Sen. Royce West).

The contact information of members of the Senate Committee on Higher Education and audio of the committee’s hearings can be found on the Texas State Senate website.

Tuition set-asides are portions of the tuition paid by Texas resident students that are used to provide financial aid for students who are deemed to need it the most. Tuition set-asides do not affect student financial aid that is done through FAFSA and the eligibility requirements are completely separate.

Created in 2003, the designated tuition set-aside requires public institutions of higher education in Texas to set aside at least 15 percent of the amount of resident undergraduate and graduate designated tuition for student financial assistance.

In 2014, the average tuition set-aside for student financial aid among public institutions of higher education in Texas was $19.18 per semester credit hour, an almost 654 percent increase since 2004.

UHCL plans on continuing to use tuition set-asides for students in need regardless of whether or not they are required to by the state.

“Currently, tuition set-asides fund approximately $4 million in need-based financial aid at the University of Houston-Clear Lake,” said Billy Satterfield, executive director of student financial aid. “This aid is important to our students. We have seen more high need students attending the university over the past several years and they are the beneficiaries of the tuition set-aside funds. Fortunately, the current university administration is committed to funding this need-based aid regardless of the outcome in the legislature.”

Accounting major Ariel Delgado feels that tuition set-asides are a needed option for many students.

“That would really suck if they took that money away from the students,” Delgado said. “It’s hard enough for us to get financial aid as it is, and they’re trying to take away one of our options? If anything, they should be requiring schools to set aside more money.”

Proponents of SB 18 point out that it allows universities to use tuition money in other areas that will benefit the universities the most.

“There are too many schools whose set-asides are so high that low social-economic students end up paying for other low social-economic students,” said Bettencourt. “We really need to let the universities get back to using tuition the best way they can and, more importantly, get away from the concept that we have tuition payments subsidizing other payments.”

The potential act would apply beginning with tuition for the 2018 spring semester. Portions of the tuition charged for the 2017 fall and summer semesters would still be required to be set aside for student financial assistance.

The next step for the bill is for it to be voted on by the state Senate. If it passes through the Senate, it will be voted on by an Out of House Committee followed by the Texas House of Representatives.

If the bill passes through the House, Gov. Greg Abbott will decide whether or not the bill will become a law.

To learn who represents your district and how to contact them, head to fyi.legis.state.tx.us. State Rep. Dennis Paul and Sen. Larry Taylor represent the district that UHCL is located in.