Texas A&M President Robert Gates spoke at length Monday night about tuition hikes at A&M.

Last year, the Tuition Policy Advisory Council, or TPAC, was created to recommend possible changes to the policy. In front of students, faculty and staff, members of the council presented their findings and recommended moving to a flat tuition rate for students taking more than 12 credit hours. A&M is one of the few universities still charging per semester credit hour, and any student taking 11 or fewer hours would still have to pay per hour.

A surcharge would also be imposed on students who fail to graduate in five years. All these proposed measures are in an effort to encourage students to finish school faster.

"I think they've come up with some terrific recommendations," said Gates. "They've listened to the concerns of their fellow students. Clearly, the idea of anything having to do with tuition is not going to make everybody happy."

Gates and the T-PAC will continue to take comments from students. A final decision will be made later this year.

Gates will meet with state legislators about A&M's projected 2006 budget Tuesday.