AUSTIN (KXAN) — The cost of college continues to rise at state universities in Texas.

Some lawmakers say they are concerned about rising tuition rates. They claim there have been cases of higher education institutions deciding to increase tuition while implementing excessive bonus programs for highly paid administrators.

Next to charts showing a 147 percent rise in tuition since 2003 Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, as president of the Texas Senate, voiced frustation.

Patrick has threatened to make tuition rates mandated by Texas Legislature to block unnecessary inflated costs of public higher education.

“This has to end. People did not send us here to Austin to allow our Universities to raise tuition five times higher than their salaries,” said Lt. Gov. Patrick.

He was flanked Tuesday by Republican Amarillo Senator Kel Seliger, chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee. They want to tie funding to university performance, add additional cost reviews and get rid of the “tuition set aside” program — how two out of every 10 tuition dollars goes to another student’s financial aid. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says cutting that program would instantly bring down tuition for many families.

“This is nothing more than a hidden tax on every student and every family,” said Lt. Gov. Patrick.

But San Antonio Democratic Senator Jose Menendez says cutting financial aid would lock thousands of students out of college because they wouldn’t be able to afford it.

“It creates a divide between the haves and the have nots. Every democracy that’s a strong democracy has a strong middle class,” said. Senator Menendez.

The University of Texas System tells us, as part of the “tuition set aside program” more than $100 million went toward grants, work-study programs and scholarships in 2015.

“These dollars help thousands of needy and deserving students attend UT universities. UT System leaders will gladly work with legislators and state leaders in a review of programs like these set-asides to ensure higher education at UT and in Texas remains of the highest quality yet affordable and accessible for students,” said spokeswoman Jenny LaCoste-Caputo in an email to KXAN.

Lawmakers also brought up massive pay raises universities offered this year.

UT System’s CEO for university oil lands received a $425,000 one year increase. That’s a 40 percent raise. Pay for the executive vice chancellor for health affairs increased 28 percent to nearly a million dollars.

Chancellor of the UT-Systems, Admiral Bill McRaven, would not talk to us on camera Tuesday. He said he had to rush to a meeting. But in a Senate Committee Tuesday he told lawmakers these raises were part of performance agreements years in the making.

“You met your goals therefore we had an agreement with you and we would provide you with a certain incentive compensation,” said Chancellor McRaven, describing how these pay raises were agreed and acted upon.

This incentive based system was a reform under Governor Rick Perry’s administration as many people in charge wanted Universities to operate more like businesses.

The University of Texas Board of Regents last month approved a tuition increase of more than 6 percent over the next two years. A UT undergraduate student will go from paying $4,903 per semester to $5,055 in August, and then $5,207 by 2017 for the same class load.

Right after that announcement Lt. Governor Patrick and Chairman of the Senate Higher Education Committee Kel Seliger sent a letter to each public university president asking for information on tuition and costs to attend the institution since 2002. Those results were given to us at a press conference where on average tuition rose nearly 150 percent.

As a University of Texas at Austin Junior, Bruce Cunningham admits he has it easy compared to his peers. He’ll only have to take out student loans his senior year, putting him $9,000 in debt.

“I think they’re kind of a necessary evil the way it’s set up now. But in the end, it ends up hurting a lot of people,” said Cunningham.

He’s one in a generation that’s racked up more than a trillion dollars in debt.

While some people want elected officials to regulate tuition, others point out that might not lead to lower costs. State leaders set tuition until 2003 when they gave that power to universities. In the 10 years before 2003, lawmakers raised tuition at the University of Texas more than 190 percent. Tuition kept rising after that, but at a slower rate. In the 10 years after 2003, UT tuition rose 80 percent.

Universities and the state government now have new leaders again. Texas will see a policy struggle in the months ahead.