An injustice likely is about to be perpetrated on West Texas A&M University students.

To be clear, the source of the injustice isn’t at the WT campus headquarters in Canyon. It’s coming from sources outside of WT’s control. Are you paying attention, members of the Texas Legislature?

WT’s students are facing a $150 per semester tuition increase beginning with the 2012-13 academic year. Why? The school needs to make up for severe education cuts mandated by lawmakers.

WT Vice President for Business and Finance Gary Barnes said the school isn’t happy about the increase “any more than anyone else who pays the fees.”

WT officials said the increase would raise about $9 million, enough to pay for faculty and staff raises, pay for lease payments at the Amarillo Center (in the Chase Tower) and finance new teaching positions.

Does the university need to remain competitive with other regional higher learning institutions? Of course it does.

But this is going to be a tough pill to ask the school’s more than 7,000 students to swallow.

Students’ personal budgets are hurting, too, as are those of their parents — particularly those parents of non-scholarship students who don’t have the luxury of a fully financed college education.

The tuition boost, of course, isn’t yet a done deal. The Texas A&M Board of Regents will vote on the proposal in May. Should regents approve the increase? Yes, but only because WT appears to be making a good-faith effort to restrain expenses, such as its planned elimination of 15 vacated positions.

Many factors contribute to this dilemma. They include a still-struggling — but improving — state economy.

There might be little recourse for the university to meet its needs than to ask more from its students.

That doesn’t make it any easier. Nor does it lessen the injustice.

read more: http://amarillo.com/opinion/editorial/2012-02-28/wt-students-take-hit-unjustly