UT parents and students may have to pay more money in tuition and fees next year.
It's the first time administrators have proposed a price hike this significant.
At a public hearing Thursday, UT's Tuition Advisory Committee explained why a 13 percent tuition hike is essential for the next school year.
A decline in state support has created an $85 million deficit.
Under the plan, students would pay for more than half of the budget gap.
For student Josh Campbell, that may mean working extra hours at his after school job.
"Once they start talking about raising tuition, that is where we get more into having to focus less on education and more on work, in order to provide the money to actually be here," he said.
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UT tuition increase
Tuition would be raised $722 per year.
 
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UT officials recommend raising fees by an average of 3 percent and increasing tuition by $722 a year.
Under the proposed plan, students would pay an extra $361 as early as this spring, and another $361 in the fall.
The commission said financial aid will offset the added cost.
"If they're on need-based financial aid, I will give them additional need-based financial aid. Now for a number of students that will mean loans," Larry Burt of Student Financial Services said.
Campbell said the tuition hike makes sense.
"We have to realize, if we want to get something in return from this university we're going to have to sometimes pay a little more," he said.
Whether it means more student loans or extra work hours, students and the university will have to do a little more to make ends meet next year.
The proposed increase isn't set in stone. UT president Larry Faulkner will decide in the coming weeks whether to take the plan to the UT System Board of Regents.
The board will take a final vote Nov. 19.
