UT-Permian Basin to Offer a New Kind of $10,000 Degree
At the Wednesday meeting of the University of Texas System board of regents, David Watts, the president of the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, announced that his institution would begin offering a $10,000 bachelor's degree this fall.
Gov. Rick Perry challenged the state's colleges and universities to develop degrees that cost no more than $10,000 — books included — in his 2011 State of the State address.
Institutions have responded in different ways. At a SXSWedu panel in March, Texas A&M University-San Antonio President Maria Ferrier and Alamo Colleges Chancellor Bruce Leslie announced that they ...
Comments (8)
Peggy Venable
This is good news for those of us from West Texas. Gov. Perry placed the challenge out there. It can and should e done. Student loan debt has surpassed all credit card debt in the US and this will have implications on our economy, not just those individuals with student loan debt. Good story, Reeve!
Travis Merrill Smith via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Go go go!
T D
It's good news indeed that these students will get a heavily subsidized education.
But here is the key sentence, which tells you they won't be paying the true cost at all:
"If they are accepted, their tuition and fees will be capped at $2,500 per year, instead of the roughly $6,300 most UTPB students pay annually."
Nancy LaMance via Texas Tribune on Facebook
That's great, but what will happen to economics, government, English, etc?
David Huang via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Will they be worth anything though? I mean, it's all great and all to say you can give someone a $10k degree, but if it's not worth the paper it's printed on....
Julie Joffee Covey via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Now let's do this for healthcare professionals (or pre-HC professionals)
gypsy314 ne
All Americans should know by now liberals democrats are nothing but a lie.
Anyone but a democrat!
Eric Bittner
OK, how is this NOT different from a scholarship to pursue a science degree? We have students at UH receiving full ride (all tuition paid) scholarships with the stipulation that they maintain a high GPA and complete in 4 yrs. I went to a private, top-league university and paid no tuition for 4 years--other students were paying a lot more! I also graduated with degrees in Chemistry, Math, and Physics with a 3.8 gpa in 4 yrs. Who paid for it? Answer: donors to the university and tuition revenue. I certainly worked my tail off to maintain the minimal GPA needed to keep my scholarship and complete the degree plan I set out to accomplish.
It's a fact and should come as no surprise to anyone that since universities were established that scholarships are paid to deserving students using funds from other students paying full tuition. Call it work/study, merit-based scholarship, need-based scholarships, etc...it's all the same. Many of the best minds in history received their education under this systems.
Programs like this encourage good students who might otherwise not be able to afford a university education to aim high and work hard. The benefit is that for each $1 invested in higher ed, you see an eight-fold returned in the form of increased earnings potential over the lifetime of the student.