Tuition rises as awards stay fixed
Some students say scholarship amount should grow over time

By Carrie Woodall
Staff Reporter

As tuition perpetually increases, many TCU students said they think merit-based scholarships should rise at the same percentage.

While merit scholarships don’t increase for current students as tuition increases, the amounts do increase for each incoming class, said Michael Scott, director of scholarships and student financial aid.

“The reason is simply a matter of budget,” Scott said. “It would cost about $250,000 each year to increase scholarships of all returning students.”

In order to increase scholarships, the university would have to either take funds away from some students or raise tuition to generate funds, he said.

“I doubt the 5,000 students not on scholarship would agree with that,” he said.

Michele Kruzel, a sophomore e-business and marketing major, received the Dean’s Scholarship upon entering TCU. She said she thinks there should be an adjustment at least every two or three years because of tuition increases.

“I think it’s only fair for the university to compensate accordingly so students don’t face financial difficulty as costs rise,” she said.

Scott said the undergraduate financial aid budget this year is over $11.5 million. Approximately $4.5 million of that comes from tuition revenue. The other $7 million comes from the endowment.

Although scholarship money for returning students doesn’t increase, awards do play an important role in recruiting new students, he said.

Ray Brown, dean of admissions, said merit scholarships are a part of the academic culture.

“Bidding wars among universities for students is escalating, and schools are adding more and more offers for students now,” he said.

These awards were a novel aspect of some schools at one time, but students now expect the money from universities, he said.
New scholarships for incoming and transfer students are also being created.

Scott said TCU expects about 500 new academic scholarship recipients in the freshmen class and about 50 in the transfer class. At any given time, the university has about 1,500 students on scholarship.

“The number of scholarships we offer is determined by the total number of new students we are trying to recruit,” Scott said.

The chancellor determines the total recruitment number by estimating the amount of returning students each year and comparing it to what we want the total enrollment of the university to be, he said.

“We would love to help every student who desires to be assisted financially,” Scott said. “But the reality is that we don’t have the means to do so.”

Carrie Woodall
c.d.woodall@student.tcu.edu