The Best Music to Listen to When UT Increases Your Tuition

Another year at UT, another tuition increase. Here's everything you should know before that tuition bill is due, along with some groovy tunes to help get you through the administration-induced frustration.

Written by Allison McCarty
Illustrated by Paige Giordano

Here we are again, another year at The University of Texas at Austin, another email in which the university nonchalantly informs students that they will be seeing an increase in their tuition rates in the coming semesters. Are you getting tired of receiving these emails year after year? Me too. That’s why I’ve provided a few songs to help get your mind off of the looming bill on the horizon. They probably won't help, but at least you get to hear some tunes before you sign that tuition check.

“Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” — The Beatles (The Beatles, 1968)

Why is “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” Molly’s life motto? Does anyone in the marketplace actually know what Molly means when she says it? Does Desmond know, or is he just too afraid to ask Molly after all these years? Who knows! It makes about as much sense as UT, an institution reportedly wealthier than 102 countries, increasing tuition after a 130 million dollar donation from the Moody Foundation. In case you didn’t know, that donation “is one of the single largest gifts in the university’s 136-year history,” as university President Greg Fenves (who is paid an annual salary of $925,000, one of the highest salaries of a university executive in the nation) informed us in his email to students and faculty on Nov. 9. This grant from the Moody Foundation was given to the university for the sole purpose of supporting Texas Athletics, which is a “self-sustaining” department at the university that is already funded through the “Texas Legislature, student tuition, research grants,” and various endowments. That was five days before Fenves followed up his ecstatic email with the aforementioned tuition increase to the tune of 143 additional dollars per semester (averaged) for the 2020-2021 academic year. This tuition increase is the highest for those students who happen to be McCombs, Cockrell, or CNS majors. McCombs and Cockrell students will pay 550 additional dollars per semester, and CNS students will pay 250 dollars in addition to the 2.6 percent increase. Don’t worry though, as The Beatles boisterously sing “life goes on, bra,” so too will your life go on. Although, maybe not in the same way as Desmond and Molly Jones, who got to build an idyllic “home sweet home” instead of figuring out where they’re going to earn an extra 143-550 dollars a semester as a student in Austin, Texas.

“Once in a Lifetime” — Talking Heads (Remain in Light, 1980)

This Talking Heads song about existential dread and unconscious mortality is a track that repeatedly interrogates the events leading up to the present moment. After the tuition increase announcement on Nov. 14, you, like the Talking Heads, may also ask yourself “How did I get here?” You may find yourself using the services at the university’s CMHC, which is too understaffed and underfunded to support the large number of students at UT Austin. And you may find yourself in need of medical attention at UHS, but have to choose between skipping class to go during their highly restrictive hours (they don’t operate outside of their 8 a.m.-5 p.m. weekday hours) or going without medical attention so you don’t miss your classes. And you may find yourself needing to report a case to the Office for Inclusion and Equity after hearing inappropriate comments from your professor, but you likely won’t get your case finding in a timely manner due to the overwhelming amount of cases and the small amount of university funding the OIE receives. And you may ask yourself, why is UT asking for more money from students when they could use their donation from the Moody Foundation to support CMHC, UHS, and the OIE — resources students use to ensure their physical and mental wellbeing — instead of building basketball arenas? And you may find yourself thinking it’s because the university would rather fund the programs that bring in money, like athletics and entertainment, and not the unprofitable programs that provide the institution’s students with crucial services. And you may find yourself realizing that is why students will now have to pay more in tuition, as the increase will “allow for additional funding for student success, student mental health services and expanded technology and internet on campus,” which couldn’t possibly be funded through any other method, say with one of the “largest gifts in the university’s 136-year history,” for example. Evidently, the university would rather solicit proposals from outside sources to build arenas instead of focusing on critically underfunded programs that benefit student welfare. Moreover, it seems Fenves would prefer his presidential legacy be a 10,000 seat basketball stadium rather than the prioritization of the health of his students he is meant to advocate for. And you may ask yourself, how could UT treat its students this way? The answer is because UT is the “same as it ever was.” 

“Money” — Pink Floyd (Dark Side of the Moon, 1973)

I don’t really think I need to explain this one.

“I Can’t Tell You Why” — Eagles (The Long Run, 1979)

For those out there who are unaware, the UT system has 2.1 million acres of West Texas land which it currently uses to frack for natural gas and oil. The Texas Tribune reports that “millions of gallons” of oil a day are pulled from the land, which routinely brings in billions of dollars in funding a year to support The Permanent University Fund, an endowment for the UT and Texas A&M universities. With billions of dollars coming in from oil and natural gas in West Texas every year, why exactly does UT Austin need to increase tuition by 2.6 percent? Well, as the Eagles lament in their 1979 single, “baby, I can’t tell you why.” Why can’t UT, with the Permanent University Fund that was valued at 21.5 billion dollars in December 2018, cover the costs that are now going to be covered by students? I can’t tell you why. How come in 2017, when the university withdrew 298 million dollars from the endowment, only 38 million dollars (12% of the withdrawl) went to student financial aid? I can’t tell you why. Why has UT increased tuition every semester since the fall of 2016 (2016-2017, 2017-2018, 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021, 2021-2022), when UT Austin is sitting on billions in funding from oil and natural gas? I can’t tell you why. What I can tell you is that the Eagles song is a lot more catchy and much less depressing than this analysis.