Perry to Push Texas Colleges to Offer $10,000 Degree
Gov. Rick Perry will challenge the state's colleges and universities to offer a $10,000 bachelor's degree, including books, in his State of the State speech later this morning, according to sources familiar with some of the proposals.
Perry also wants lawmakers to consider outcome-based financial support for those schools, basing a substantial portion of their funding on the number of degrees they issue, with particular attention to degrees for at-risk students and for those in critical or essential areas of study.
In his sixth State of the State speech, the governor will be addressing a joint session ...
Comments (13)
Tio_Juan
A $10,000 degree would be great. Of course what are universities going to do to collect the fees they charge students to park, use the majestic rec room and other services that add thousands of dollars to the cost of tuition? That will be there problem to solve. But a quick and dirty $10,000 degree is a good idea and universities should deliver on that idea.
Karen Cummings
ROTFL 10K degree? In what........basket weaving?
Tio_Juan
They offer it now Karen at the University of Texas for $20K.
Kathy Kennemer Genet via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Is the degree "Bachelor of Greeters at Walmart"?
Lonnie Beene via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Actually, my 4-year degree cost about $10K by the time I finished it—in 1982. So if we can just use some of that technological innovation Perry is always touting to build a Wayback Machine ...
Marcus mdc
I guess Perry forgot that his crew was the one to deregulate tuition in the first place. How quickly we forget.
Mike C. Miller via Texas Tribune on Facebook
My first year of college cost more than $10,000 in the Fall of 1977. I'm sure a four year degree for that 35 years later will be all but worthless.
J J Baskin via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I don't understand where that number comes from. Is this based on something? What people can afford? What Texas can afford? How much the Governor pays for rent?
I think it is a big mistake to talk only about efficiencies and number of degrees without ever discussing QUALITY.
Anonymous User via Texas Tribune on Facebook
$10,000 will barely pay for tuition and books for an Associates degree, much less a Bachelors degree.
BiffTannen
Obviously the institutes of higher learning are just inefficient government boondoggles. Let's turn all of them into ITT Tech, and then we'll get tuition down to $10,000.
maxdtex
Basing college funding on degrees granted results in instructors being pressured to lower their standards and pass more students to get more funding. It is already occurring with some schools including completion rate in faculty evaluations.
Eric Bittner
We can bring tuition down. The way to do it is to boost state support or boost the university endowment funds to offset tuition. The fact is nothing is free.
M G
This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard.
I’d like to know how universities are supposed to offer degrees at 1/3 of the current average price. What are they supposed to do? Hire illegal immigrants to teach them in a barn with no electronic equipment?
There are already cheaper degrees, they’re called Associates Degrees. The only way to offer a bachelor’s degree that cheap is to cheapen the value of the degree by getting less educated people to teach it and provide fewer resources and student support. Basically, some non-certified, lower-degreed person, possibly a student TA, will teach an online course. That’s the only way to do it.