Tuition on the rise at Texas universities

Tuition costs at universities across Texas

Statewide average

Tuition and fees, 2003: $1,934

Tuition and fees, 2013: $3,951

Increase: 104%

Tuition costs at universities across Texas

Statewide average

Statewide average Tuition and fees, 2003: $1,934

Tuition and fees, 2013: $3,951

Increase: 104% Image 1 of / 21 Caption Close Tuition on the rise at Texas universities 1 / 21 Back to Gallery

Students attending Texas public colleges now are paying a much higher price for their education than they would have a decade ago.

Tuition at universities in Texas has skyrocketed, and many blame a 2003 decision by the state Legislature to give schools free rein over what they charge for running up the costs. Before then, the state was able to regulate tuition, and though lawmakers allowed tuition to rise sharply and steadily in the decade leading up to deregulation, the cost of college has grown at a faster clip since.

Universities blame the state for squeezing funding over the years, and say they have to make up the cost in part with tuition increases.

The state funds higher education through a formula based in part on enrollment. In 2004 and 2005, the state gave universities $2.66 billion. Higher education received $3.15 billion from the state 2014-15 budget. Despite the small increase, universities say they're actually getting less from the state than they were a decade ago, because of enrollment growth and inflation.

On average, the cost to attend Texas colleges, including tuition and fees, jumped 104 percent from 2003 and 2013. But costs to attend some schools, like the University of Houston, jumped much more than the average in the decade that followed deregulation.

See just how sharply tuition has increase since deregulation in the slideshow above, take a closer look at the prospects re-regulation on HoustonChronicle.com.