Young Conservatives of Texas at Texas Tech Disappointed in 2010-2011 Increased Budget through Tuition Hikes

The Young Conservatives of Texas at Texas Tech, a non-partisan, conservative grassroots organization, is disappointed in the budget passed by the Board of Regents on August 6, 2010 for the 2010 – 2011 academic year.

Earlier this year, Governor Rick Perry made cuts to higher education funding, which caused a $29.7 million gap in the Texas Tech budget for the 2010-2011 school year. To compensate, the Board of Regents raised tuition rates by 9.95% in May. According to the newly approved budget, even with the 5 percent state mandated reduction, the Texas Tech budget is up 3% or $44 million from last year.

The Board of Regents states that the increase in tuition rates is to further projects and research in Texas Tech’s journey to Tier-1 status. “YCT is adamantly opposed to Texas Tech attaining Tier-1 status on the backs of students,” said Jeff Morris, Tech YCT Chairman.

Overall, YCT feels that the Board of Regents decided to forgo balancing the budget and took the easy way out by passing the burden on to students. In the future, there are other possible alternatives which should be looked into for future budgets such as decreasing unnecessary expenditures.

YCT suggests reducing unnecessary spending to cover potential future budget gaps. This could include reducing the $700,000 being spent on “green” art at the new Rawls College of Business Administration building; or, placing the several building renovations on hold, such as, the Sports Studies Center at an expected cost of $2.9 million.

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