The Mesquite Online News - Texas A&M University-San Antonio

University to offer guaranteed tuition plans

By Jerry Quijano

Proposed resident tuition and fees for the 2016-17 academic year at Texas A&M University-San Antonio will still make the university less expensive than competing regional institutions, including University of Texas-San Antonio and Texas State University.

In a forum held on campus to an audience of faculty, staff and one single student, Chief Financial Officer Darrell Morrison announced that University Services Fees (USF) will increase for new students beginning in the fall semester of 2016.

New students will have the opportunity to lock into a two, three or four-year guaranteed plan at a rate of 5.62%. Likewise, students will have the choice of one-year optional rate plan at 2.2%, understanding that costs may fluctuate as opposed to guaranteed plans.

Robert Llanez, junior and history major, was the spokesman for the student population that day. Llanez said the forum was informative, but he could only ask questions that pertained to him.

“I guess if there were more people here there would probably be more questions,” he said. “I can only ask about what’s around me.”

The information presented at the forum will apply only to students new to the university as current students already have a guaranteed tuition plan.

However, for students like Llanez, who plan on coming back to earn master’s degrees, there wasn’t a crowd diverse enough to cover all the estimated costs that come with it.

“The thought process is that I’m going to come back. That tuition is going to affect me,” Llanez said. “So I would have liked for other (students) to come that were in master’s programs, asking those type of questions.”

Morrison said that USF will be implemented to support the campus, including exterior and interior wayfinding throughout campus.

The College of Education and Human Development (COEHD) is requesting a one-time $100 fee for students to subscribe to TK20, A&M-San Antonio’s current data collection and assessment system.

The proposed fee will apply to any student who declares a COEHD major or licensure as well as students outside of the program seeking educator licensure or enrolled in a key assessment course, affecting nearly 1,000 students, according to the presentation.

The university sent an e-mail to the students regarding the tuition forum using their school e-mail addresses. Many students use their personal e-mail address as their primary point of contact and important notifications and events, such as financial aid assistance or scholarship opportunities, may pass by without students ever knowing.

“When they sent this (e-mail)out, if they said ‘hey it may affect you,’” he said. “I’m pretty sure there would have been more people here. The other day they had a job fair up here (Vista Room), and they had signs posted everywhere. But there really were no signs for this (tuition forum).”

About the Author

Jerry Quijano
Jerry Quijano's enthusiasm for storytelling earned him a spot to attend the 2016 Podcast Movement in Chicago where he received instruction on crafting audio stories. He was selected as an alternate for NPR's Next Generation public radio training. Jerry envisions working in public radio in a large market and would like to become a producer on WBEZ’s This American Life. He serves as assistant editor of The Mesquite and producer for "Magnified," a podcast production.

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