11.   But in a legislative budget proposed earlier this month, public colleges got only modest increases overall.

12.   But it could easily change the priorities of state legislatures that largely underwrite public college systems.

13.   But policies forbidding public colleges from showing preference to applicants based on gender or ethnicity leaves schools with little recourse.

14.   But UMass remains among the most expensive public colleges in the country.

15.   Call it public college karma.

16.   Council chairman James Carlin said he hoped to reduce tuition annually, until the cost of attending public colleges here nears the national norm.

17.   Currently, tuition and mandatory fees at Massachusetts public colleges make them among the five most expensive state college systems in the nation.

18.   Elite universities have made diversity a prominent selling point and are unlikely to give it up, no matter what the public colleges do.

19.   Even with the higher tuition increases, however, public colleges and universities are still a bargain compared to private ones.

20.   For nearly a quarter-century, legions of minority students have entered selective public colleges and schools through a welcoming portal of affirmative action.