AUSTIN — The Texas Senate has voted to bar universities statewide from increasing tuition by more than 1 percent over the cost of inflation until the 2018-19 academic year.
The rule was tacked Thursday onto a larger bill requiring that colleges meet academic performance standards before being allowed to raise tuition beginning in 2018-19. And even then, those meeting necessary future benchmarks wouldn’t be allowed to increase tuition more than 3 percent above the inflation rate.
Republican Sen. Kel Seliger’s measure passed 29-2 on Thursday, despite Democratic objections that the Legislature should instead increase higher education funding.
Universities will have to meet performance measures in areas like on-time graduation rates, how many first-generation graduates they produce, how many lower-division courses are taught by tenured faculty and how much outside research they generate.
