Tennessee’s lieutenant governor Ron Ramsey threw his support behind the tuition freeze bill climbing in the state legislature during the Tennessee Press Association convention in Nashville Jan. 28.
“We can’t continue allowing tuition growing 400 percent [like] over the last 20 years,” The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported Ramsey said. “That’s well above inflation.”
Ramsey’s comments came from the discussion that took place last week in front of newspaper executives at the convention.
He said tuition has risen 456 percent, the Times Free Press reported.
Dolores Gresham, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, recently introduced the Tuition Stability Act, which halts the growth of tuition in Tennessee’s public colleges and universities.
If passed, the bill will freeze tuition costs for incoming freshman for four years in the state of Tennessee.
Universities and colleges would be prohibited to increase tuition above the consumer price index without getting a unanimous vote from all members of the Tennessee Board of Regents.
Students would pay the same tuition from freshman to senior year, as long as they remain enrolled and graduate within four years.
“If the present rate of tuition increases were to continue, an affordable college education would soon be out of reach for all but the most affluent Tennesseans. That is simply unacceptable,” Gresham said in a press release.
Ramsey gave his reasons for his support of the bill.
“To have your tuition frozen for four years — to give students and parents some certainty, some budgetary planning ability — I think that’s very important,” he said.
