University of Texas Joining Harvard, MIT Online Venture The University of Texas System plans to put up $5 million to join the EdX online school, started by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , to help meet demand for low-cost college courses. The Texas system, based in Austin and overseeing nine universities, will quadruple the number of schools involved in the venture, which offers free online courses to anyone on the Internet. The state-supported Texas schools have been encouraged by Governor Rick Perry to cut the cost of college education. “To meet the growing demand for higher education in Texas, we must give our students affordable and predictable options, and reduce the debt that they carry with them as they start their careers,” Perry wrote in a newspaper article posted on his website last week. Texas follows the University of California , B...