Since taking office as the 12th president of Purdue University in January 2013, Mitch Daniels has accomplished something very rare—to the point of being unheard of—in higher education these days: He has halted the increase of undergraduate tuition for six years (extending through academic year 2019), reversing a trend of 36 consecutive years of tuition increases.
Key Points
In light of Purdue University’s successful cost-cutting measures, the Texas Legislature, as well as each Texas public university system board of trustees, should explore the viability of the following policies:
- Reduce the cost of room and board expenses for their students.
- Reduce the cost of textbooks for their students
- Establish aggressive counseling of students about the extent and terms of their loan debt.
- Study the feasibility of establishing Income Share Agreements for Texas public college and university students.
- Establish three-year college degrees in the liberal arts.