UT System’s free tuition plan sparks resistance from some Texas lawmakers

WASHINGTON — State Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, said Friday he plans to meet with top University of Texas System officials after they announced a plan to provide free tuition and waived fees to students whose families make $100,000 or less.

While many elected officials have praised the initiative, Harrison criticized it as an “abuse of power” that makes Texas higher education “more socialist than California.”

Harrison said Friday he’s unswayed by statements from the system and supporters who say the move will be funded from university endowments, not taxpayers.

Harrison compared such statements to someone saying they’re removing water from the shallow side of a pool, not the deep end. It’s all the same water.

“Money is fungible, so that doesn’t satisfy me in the slightest,” Harrison said.

The new initiative is an expansion of the Promise Plus Program, a needs-based financial aid initiative, and comes amid widespread concerns about the impact of inflation and college costs on families. Gov. Greg Abbott recently prohibited Texas colleges and universities from raising tuition for the next two years.

UT System Chancellor James B. Milliken hailed the expansion as a “game changer” that will make “enormous, real difference” to improve college access for all Texans.

Not everyone is a fan.

Harrison and like-minded House colleagues have compared it to President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan that drew intense blowback from conservatives and was largely struck down by the courts. They also said such a consequential change in policy should come from the elected lawmakers serving in the Legislature.

“There must be consequences,” Harrison said on X. “UT’s budget must be cut, and bureaucrats should be fired.”

He led 10 Republican lawmakers, most of them incoming freshmen, in a letter to the regents demanding answers to a litany of questions, including the price tag of the expansion and the source of that money.

“What specific statutory authority did the regents rely on to make a decision this consequential, which will have direct financial consequences for our constituents, many of whom are already struggling to put gas in their tanks and food on their tables?” the lawmakers wrote.

UT System spokesman Paul Corliss has said the program is not funded through taxes or any kind of public subsidy.

“Rather it is funded through existing UT System endowments,” Corliss said.

Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, hammered that point in a response to Harrison on social media.

“There are no tax dollars involved,” Howard said on X. “Higher Ed institutions are already helping families afford college. This expands philanthropic endowments and helps meet affordability goals of [Abbott and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board].”

Harrison and his colleagues will have to contend with many members of the public embracing a plan that already is encouraging young people to adjust their higher education aspirations.

Frank Whitefeather, a high school senior, stayed up until 2:30 a.m. Friday working on his college application essay.

He was freshly motivated after the announcement that students whose families make less than $100,000 annually will get free tuition and waived fees at the University of Texas at Austin and other schools in the UT System.

“I wouldn’t be in debt,” said Whitefeather, 17. “I wouldn’t have to have student loans.”

Whitefeather, who attends Dallas ISD’s Sunset High School, thinks the UT news also could change many of his peers’ lives. It’s already changing his plans. Whitefeather hopes to study engineering and be his own boss one day. Texas A&M and UT Austin were his top two choices, but the free tuition announcement has pushed UT ahead.

Harrison said the university system is being contradictory by simultaneously saying it has enough money to offer tuition-free education, but also that a tuition freeze could leave it cash strapped and require more funding from the Legislature.

“I guarantee you they’re going to be requesting more tax money from the Legislature next session,” he said.