Bleeding Maroon Can Get Expensive

And you thought all that Texas A&M students had to do was put up with the inevitable Aggie jokes. Turns out being an Ag is getting more expensive: a proposal for a 13% increase in tuition and fees is coming up before the school's Board of Regents today, and is expected to pass, writes the Chronicle.

This plan is only the latest in a series of several tuition increases at public universities, which began in 2003 when the Texas Legislature gave schools the right to set their own tuititon policies. Schools like Prarie View A&M (expected to approve a 35% increase this year) and U of H are also considering tuition hikes for next year within the next few weeks.

If the board agrees to A&M plan, cost of attending the College Station campus would jump several hundred dollars, to nearly $4,000 per semester for in-state residents, and, along with previous tuition increases, represent an overall jump of a whopping nearly 60% in four years.

However, all's not lost if little Billy just can't give up his dream of sawing 'em off : if the legislature and other lawmakers can find some more money to give to A&M's flagship campus, the tuition increases could be rolled back or even cancelled. It wouldn't be the first time a budget increase from Austin has helped out public universities: Texas Southern and Prarie View A&M have each been, in recent years, recipients of donations of over a hundred million dollars over and above their usual public-money budgets.