On January 15, 2018, the newspaper El Vocero announced that the Federal Fiscal Control Board revised the University of Puerto Rico’s draft for their tax plan, and the revisions could affect enrollment fees and would ascribe some campuses into three of the main ones: Rio Piedras, Cayey, and Mayagüez.
Essentially, the UPR’s system would be reduced from 11 campuses to only 4, including the three mentioned previously and el Recinto de Ciencias Medicas.
This draft, as of now, proposes an increase of 105% in credit, meaning that undergraduate credits would amount to $115 per credit, graduate credits would be around $270, and doctorate credits would round up to $400 or more and so on. Then, there is the possibility of a second increase of 20% more in these prices by 2023 if the UPR does not meet its tax plan goals.
During the summer of 2017, the UPR approved the same tax plan that has now been revised. They had discarded the suggestion of closing campuses but agreed with the fusion of some—although how exactly has yet to be specified—like Bayamon and Carolina with the Rio Piedras Campus, and they proposed the increase of enrollment price per credit. However, the Junta de Gobierno, after having sent in the draft of the tax plan, had assured that “the plan is not written in stone” and that they do not wish “to let the Federal Fiscal Board decide what happens to the UPR system”. As well, they plan on creating a new scholarship with funds of $50 millions for students that would be struggling with this price increase.
None of this is a finalized decision. The propositions are simply part of a draft. However, this would change the layout of the UPR and its campuses from here on out.