San Antonio Express-News
By Mike Villarreal
What parent doesn't dream of a child going to college and on to pursue a wonderful career where he or she can make a contribution and afford a better life?
This is the dream my parents held for their children. This is the dream I hold for my own children. This is the dream so many parents share with me.
Yet in Texas, too many parents find this dream denied by rising tuition rates. During the past three years, tuition and fees at Texas public universities have increased an average of 39 percent. Need-based financial aid has failed to keep up.
This is why Rep. Geanie Morrison, R-Victoria, the chairwoman of the House Higher Education Committee, and I have joined in authoring H.B. 3900, bipartisan legislation that establishes the Texas Tomorrow Fund II.
Under the Texas Tomorrow Fund II, families would be able to lock in tuition and required fees for their children's future higher education needs at today's rates.
An investment in the Texas Tomorrow Fund II would be made by purchasing "units," each of which is worth 1 percent of one year's tuition and required fees. Three types of units would be available for purchase: one based on the highest-priced public university; a second based on a weighted average of public universities; and a third based on a weighted average of junior colleges.
Once a child enters a university, the Texas Tomorrow Fund II would pay institutions the money initially invested in the child's account, plus any returns made on that investment. For example, 100 units of Type I would be redeemable for 100 percent of one year's tuition and fees.
The Texas Tomorrow Fund II also would encourage colleges and universities to minimize future tuition rate increases. If the value of a participant's units is less than the university's cost of tuition and required fees, the school is required to cover the difference.
However, if the value of the units is greater than the cost of tuition because the university has kept tuition in check, the university makes money.
H.B. 3900 has already passed the House and is expected to clear the Senate. Once effective, the Texas Tomorrow Fund II will reward universities that go slow with tuition and fee increases.
Best of all, it will allow parents to afford their child's college and help them turn the dreams they hold for their children into reality.
Texas Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, represents District 123.