In the Know

Well, more like Ramen, tuition, and students spiraling further into debt.

Again, I’d like to thank the people that called in with comments, but there was some sort of issue with the phone, blah. I’d like to address an issue one of our callers brought up.

“Isn’t tuition at UT still alright compared to other universities?”

I have to tell you, that’s not what it looked like on Wednesday. Part of the forum included a presentation that had a list of 12 universities, including UT, with several similarities in structure. UT was a ‘good deal’ on the National Comparison for Tuition list, 9 out of 12, but none of the other schools were from Texas.

The group of universities may have several similarities to ours, but the fact remains that the state plays a large role in funding public universities. Since that’s the case, should we not be comparing our to other Texas universities? Perhaps the regents need to pay more attention to how other public universities in the state of Texas deal with the money, or lack of money, provided by the state.

The following figure is astonishing: There will be an increase in BASE grants for students in households earning $0-$40k. That’s an increase of $190, while the increase in tuition for everyone will be $621.

It is my personal belief that a journalist needs to remain as objective and neutral as possible. I have been somewhat successful in following this idea, even in highly polarized situations, but this issue hit a sore spot. I’m by no means a professional journalist yet, so I figured there was no harm in allowing myself this time to be a student, and express my disappointment in this university’s student leadership.

Did any of our listeners go to the student protest?

I was there, but embraced my idea of the journalistic role. I wasn’t part of the action, but there to catch it on camera. You know, we actually had a different topic planned for the November 30 show. I knew the tuition forums were scheduled for this week, but their news worthiness barely crossed my mind.

This is my fourth year at the university, and this was my fourth tuition forum. For four years I have sat through meetings, and was told the price of my education would be higher than the year before, and that’s sucks. If you have questions for Zack Hall leave a comment here, and I’ll pass it along.

Keep listening. Keep calling.

Mireya Garcia