Tuition and Fees

Last year, The Bridge reported on the changes that occurred with the student tuition and fees that went into effect for the academic year that began this Fall Semester. What was included were some fee increases, combining of other certain fees, and an elimination of one fee.

Recently, during a Tuition and Fees hearing held on November 4th, it was learned that again there was a proposal to increase to the amount paid by students attending Texas A&M International University. The good news, however, is for those undergraduate students that began their higher academic learning this Fall or have been enrolled in the higher academic institution for less than 12 consecutive semesters, as they are already on the fixed rate.

The increase in fees will be affecting any newly enrolled freshman in the coming 2015-16 Academic Year, Graduate Students, and those students that have not completed their degrees in 12 consecutive semesters. The fees being affected are the Freshman Orientation, Heath, Athletics, and University fees. The Freshman Orientation fee has the highest increase, being almost 67% higher than the previous fee; the one-time fee will go from $75 to $125. The Health fee, which is increasing by almost 10%, will increase $3.80 from $38.10 per semester to $41.90.

Another fee increasing by almost 10% is the Athletics fee. Last year, 5% of the student population voted on the proposed increase, which passed, and it was increased from $17 to $21. In the coming academic year, the proposed increase will be by $2.05 from $21 to $23.05. In the hearing, it was not mentioned if this fee will be left to the student body to vote on in the Spring semester.

The last fee increase, due to inflation, is the University Service fee—which consolidated International Education, Endowed Scholarship, Technology Access, Library Access, ID Card, Advising Services, University Assessment, Energy, Traffic Safety & Infrastructure and Instructional Enhancement fees—will increase by 1.93% and varies depending on the amount of credits that a student is enrolled for.

What this translates to for the students paying for education is that, if the student is taking 15 semester credit hours (SCH), they will see an increase in cost to attend TAMIU by $109.53. If a student is taking 12 SCH, a more common occurrence, they will see an increase by $90.68.

Speculatively, this may have positive or negative effect on the student body including getting students complete their education within 12 consecutive semesters or causing students not to complete their degrees and dropping out of higher education altogether. This is definitely something that The Bridge will continue to watch for.