KIITV: Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi hosted what was billed as the Texas Tribune's Hot Seat on Monday. It was a conversation about some of the hot-button issues facing the Texas legislature as it is set to start a new session after the first of the new year. There was a good crowd on hand inside the University's Lone Star Ballroom as State Representative Todd Hunter and U.S. Representative Blake Farenthold talked politics. They spoke about a number of issues with Evan Smith, the editor in chief of the non-profit Texas Tribune. A number of people in the audience asked questions as well, like what is the government going to do about our aging population, and what is going to be done to continue to get them help in an age where cuts are the norm. When TAMUCC President Flavius Killebrew was asked about education and the continuing cycle of yearly tuition rate hikes, he said it stops next year, because the school has decided to not raise tuition in 2013. "It was a consensus decision of our board and the system administration, and the president," Killebrew said. "We're going to have to be very tough on our budget situation for next year, and it's not going to be an easy call, but we'll make it work." That should be welcome news to those students who also live on a budget, and are already having trouble coming up with the $8,000 a year it costs to attend the school. Of course, there were other issues on the table and that included the dreaded fiscal cliff the U.S. is perched on.