North Texas Daily

Joshua Knopp // Senior Staff Writer

One plan raises student’s tuition by 3.9 percent every year for four years, and the other, dubbed the “Eagle Express,” would increase tuition by 10 percent starting next fall, but that rate would stay flat. Students who graduate on time using this plan would receive $4,000 in their last semester if they’ve been on the plan four years. Pro-rated versions of the plan would exist for students who already attend the university or transfer in, UNT President Neal Smatresk said.

“Our commitment should be to get students to come in and graduate in four year’s time,” Smatresk said.

Without factoring in the incentive, the total a student would pay on each of the tuition plans is within $52 of each other.

Smatresk said that the university would make up the difference caused by the incentive because, if a student has gone through an entire four-year degree, the last semester would be in upper-level courses.

The more students who opt in, the better retention would be and the more seats the university would have filled in upper-level courses, the theory goes.

Smatresk said UNT’s revenue would go up with the dual-plan system, and that revenue would go into improving infrastructure so students would have an easier time graduating in four years.

This plan was also made with the state talking about performance-based funding; a plan under which the university’s state funding would vary depending on the number of students who graduate within four years.

Smatresk will present the plan to the student body for input today at the Pohl Recreation Center. If students like it, the plan could be made official as early as next Thursday.

“I think we’ve really found an incredibly strong proposal that really hits a sweet spot,” he said. “I believe the legislature will look at this plan and say this is the most innovative thing in the state of Texas.”