UT system to mandate fixed tuition

TEXAS – University of Texas System regents ordered their campuses to offer students a four-year, fixed-rate tuition option by fall 2014 to encourage them to graduate on time. The University of Texas System has nine campuses with about 216,000 students.

The UT-Dallas campus has been using a mandatory fixed-rate tuition plan since 2008, and UT-El Paso has been offering an optional plan since 2006.

Under the regents’ order, the other seven schools will be required to develop optional fixed-rate plans. Each campus would set their tuition rates.

The four-year graduation rate at UT-Dallas for students entering in the fall of 2006 was 45 percent. That number jumped to 51 percent for students who entered in fall 2008, once the school adopted its four-year tuition plan.