Board increases tuition hourly rate by $1
by Chris Taylor, editor in chief

    Students will pay $1 per hour more in fees next year after the TCC Board of Trustees approved the increase at its monthly meeting last week.

    The board proposed instituting a three-year policy, which would add $1 per semester credit hour to the tuition charge each year.

    The tuition fee is currently $28 per semester hour with a minimum of $100 per semester. That fee would increase to $29 dollars per semester hour in the 2001-2002 school year, $30 in 2002-2003 and $31 in 2003-2004.

    The plan would also eliminate the learning resources and technology fees and increase the building use fee to $6 per semester hour.

    Under the new policy, the records fee would become a refundable fee, and all other existing fees would not change.

    The board also approved the UTA Express, a partnership between UTA and TCC allowing TCC students better and more convenient admission to UTA upon graduation.

    Dr. Bob Witt, UTA president, spoke to the board about the new partnership.

    “It is an important step in the UTA-TCC partnership. Our goal in this partnership is to make the transition from community college to UTA easier for students,” he said.

    The express allows admission to UTA for degreed TCC students. The transfer fee is also waived for those students. In addition, TCC students will have access to UTA’s advising center, financial aid counseling and special scholarship assistance.

    Witt said the goal was to make students feel as though they were in a four-year university.

    “We want to reduce the uncertainty and anxiety for transferring students. We know the quality of the degree they will receive from TCC,” he said.

    Attorney Tom Carr presented the board with census information indicating the board would have to adjust every single-member district. The board approved a resolution creating a redistricting committee.

    The population in Tarrant County has grown by almost 300,000 since 1990. The ideal number of people represented by a board member should be 206,603. Currently, four of the seven districts are over that amount.

    Redistricting will attempt to better reflect the diversity of the board.

    Before the meeting, board members took a bus ride around the SE Campus area to observe the area’s rapid growth and received lunchboxes that contained treats prepared by SE culinary arts students.

    The next meeting will be at the May Owen Center Thursday, April 19.