Texas Senate Approves Capping Tuition Increases

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ 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 through 2019 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.

And even then, those meeting necessary future benchmarks wouldn’t be allowed to increase tuition more than 3 percent above the inflation rate.

Republican Senator 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.

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