Submitted by: Nancy Battle
Texas Law Forces College Students to get Loans to Pay for Other People's Tuition
You
probably think I am kidding but I am not. In TEXAS of all places there
is an Obama-Style share the wealth program that requires students going
to college to pay thousands of dollars in extra tuition to pay for other
people’s college tuition assistance. It does not matter if you are
working double jobs to pay your way through school, you still get to pay
for someone else. Even if a Texas college student is getting student
loans to pay for school, they still have to pay extra for someone else.
In other words, a Texas student getting student loans has to borrow
money and pay interest on a loan in order to pay thousands of dollars in
extra tuition so that someone else can go to college for free!
This tuition set aside program is required by Texas Education Code sections 56.011 and 56.012. The
program must not be very old because I know when I went to Texas
A&M University I did not pay extra tuition for someone else. In the
81st Texas
Legislature, Senate Bill 1304 was passed that requires schools to inform
students of the amount they paid in tuition that will be set aside to
pay for someone else. Transparency is good, but students should not have
to borrow money to pay for someone else’s tuition in the first place!
I would never have even known
about this if it were not for a concerned parent who forwarded me an
email that he got from his son who is attending the University of
Houston and paying his tuition via student loans. This UH student was
shocked to get an email from the University letting him know how much
money he had paid in tuition to pay for someone else. Before he graduates he will have had to borrow over $6000 in loans in order to pay for someone else’s tuition assistance!
Don’t get me
wrong, I am all for college access for everyone, even the poor. That is
what student loans are for though. Even poor people can get a student
loan with a low interest and not have to pay anything until after they
graduate and get a job. Sure the state or federal government will incur
some costs to pay for financial aid programs and to pay to run student
loan programs (assuming the loan programs do not already pay for
themselves from student loan interest), but this cost should not be
passed down to the students simply because they decided to go to
college. One student should not have to get a student loan and pay
interest in order to pay for someone else to go to college for free.
Below is the email I got from this concerned parent. Also below
is the email this concerned parent got from his son explaining how the
school had charged him extra tuition to pay for someone else:
From: *****
David Bellow,
Have
you ever heard of a program like this before? For a couple of years my
youngest son **** who is in his third year of law school at U of H has
been telling me about a state policy/law where a portion of every
student loan he takes out goes to a fund for OTHER students. In other
words when he’s borrowing money for his own education he is being
mandated by the state of Texas to borrow a certain amount for someone
else to get to go to school. Then he gets to pay it back with interest!
This is incredible to me. And from his message to me below it started
in the 81st
Legislature and was called Senate Bill 1304. The students who can least
afford it (they have to borrow money to go to school in the first place)
are having to pay for other students’ tuition! Talking about spreading
the wealth – and from those who can least afford to have it taken away
from them! This wasn’t passed by Democrats. It was a Republican led
legislature and signed by a Republican governor. Unbelievable. This
needs to be given the light of day to have this rescinded.
Have you ever heard of such?
Begin forwarded message:
From: *****
Subject: Fwd: University of Houston: Set Aside Notice
Subject: Fwd: University of Houston: Set Aside Notice
Hey Mom and Dad,
Below
is the email I have told you about. I just received it this evening
and thought I'd forward it to you to see for yourself.
By
the time I graduate, I will have been forced to BORROW roughly $6,000
to pay for someone else's tuition. The state of Texas is forcing me to
borrow money which will take me years to pay back (with interest) to pay
for someone else. Completely outrageous.
I don't see how this would hold up in court. The State should cut me a check for $6,000 plus interest.
Begin forwarded message:
From: "University of Houston Office of Student Financial Services"
Date: July 26, 2013, 5:05:05 PM CDT
To: ****
Subject: University of Houston: Set Aside Notice
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