The Tuition and Fees Review Committee’s meetings continue today as the group prepares to make a recommendation to UH President Renu Khator as to how high the budget, and the tuition and fees, for the University of Houston will be next year.
This committee is only one step in a long process to determine how the University’s money is spent and where that money comes from – University deans submitted budget requests within months of last summer’s 6.9 percent tuition and fees increase. The UH System Board of Regents is expected to make the final decision sometime in March.
As the committee sifts through the millions of dollars of requests and the tuition, fees, endowments and grants it will take to fund these requests, we hope they keep one priority in mind: openness.
Students need to know where their money is going and why. They need to know their major concerns are being addressed, and that those extra shifts they pick up and the money they cut from their personal budgets are worth it when it comes to their education and degree.
Although the University conducts open hearings and question and answer sessions once the recommendation has been made, these forums come too late in the process and are not advertised adequately to the student body. A handful of banners and a couple ads in The Daily Cougar are not enough to make sure students know when, where and why these forums are taking place.
We encourage University leaders to consult not only with the four student members of the Tuition and Fees Review Committee, but with the student body at large: the students who work in their offices, attend their events and pass them on the sidewalks – the ones who will ultimately have a UH degree hanging on their wall.
And the communication can’t be one-sided. Students need to step up and become aware and involved in the process and hold our University’s leadership accountable for where its money comes from and how it’s being spent. Ask questions. Make phone calls. Attend the forums.
For years the tuition and fees process at the University has been a well-kept secret from the student body. It’s time for administrators and students to talk to each other, to make sure the University is becoming the prestigious, and affordable, school we know it can be.
The Daily Cougar will be watching every step of the way – we hope to see you there.
