NOTICE: TEXAS HOUSE BILL CUTS SUMMER SESSION TUITION IN HALF TO INCREASE ENROLLMENT Texas A&M has taken the opportunity to pilot a program decreasing summer session II tuition by 50 percent. The launch of the program occurred after the Texas legislature passed House Bill 1330, a bill backed by local state Rep. Fred Brown. With the state government's approval, funds were mandated to support the pilot program. Dan Parker, the A&M associate executive vice president and provost, said Brown has been interested in the way things are conducted at A&M for many years. The bill states that the tuition decrease can apply to resident undergraduate students and one summer term of up to six weeks. A&M has chosen to apply the decrease to summer session II. Parker said there are two elements of student tuition: the state mandated tuition and the designated tuition. The bill states A&M will charge three-fourths of the state mandated tuition and it requires the designated tuition to be no more than the state mandated tuition. This lowers tuition from $156 to $75 per semester credit hour. "We are the only university in the state to be running this," Parker said. "It's kind of a pilot run. Whether it goes any place after this summer or not, no one knows. Obviously, if it's something students want and will take advantage of, we want to do it." Parker said they have decided on the second summer session because that is where they think enrollment needs to be increased. Numbers from past summers show that about 10,000 fewer students enroll during the second session. "We've been working with the deans, explaining [the pilot program] to them, and asking them to start coming up with programs they would like to deliver," Parker said. "We want them to go back to students to find out what [they] want to take. We're finding one thing: we can't really compete with community colleges. It would seem to me like, if I was to offer a course that you want to take, it's probably going to be a course you can't go home and take at a community college." Parker has received feedback from students within the Tuition Policy Committee on how they think students may react to the trial tuition decrease. "I'm told by the students on my Tuition Policy Committee and others, a lot of plans for summer school are made during the Christmas holiday," Parker said. "So, we'd like to be able to tell everyone which courses will be offered." Parker said he was told it would be good to try this out during the summer because students may have one-year leases that run through June or July, so it might work well with their budgets. "I think it's a good deal," Parker said. "If you were going to [attend] summer session II anyway, it's a really good deal. If you weren't, it may be worth your [attending] if you can take some courses that would catch you up for graduation."	College Station Weather Galveston Weather August 11th, 2008 6:30 pm @ UBC (University Baptist Church) Our Newsletter The Federation of Texas A&M University Mothers' Clubs (AggieMoms.org) Texas A&M Parent Update Click