Not on board
Flat-rate advantages benefit few

We, as an editorial board, have had trouble finding a good reason to get on board with TCU’s change to the flat-rate tuition.

But we have continued to press on, looking at each dimension of the plan. Still, there just haven’t been any good reasons to support comprehensive tuition.

Alas, we found a reason Tuesday to write something good about the flat rate: More students will get scholarships because their financial aid eligibility will be based on the 15 hours a semester that they may or may not be taking, instead of the 12 hours that they probably are taking.

Oops, that was already the case. Again, the number of students affected in a positive way by the flat-rate tuition is limited or nullified altogether.

In fact, Mike Scott, director of scholarships and student financial aid, said that the flat-rate tuition will have only a minor impact on student aid.

Since the government requires only an average cost that is most beneficial to students, TCU already used 30 hours as an average cost a year, Scott said.

Although the number of students affected positively is limited, the flat rate makes the work of the financial aid office faster and simpler because there won’t be a need to adjust so many scholarships according to tuition increases, Scott said.

The TCU administration maintains that more students will graduate in four years with the new plan. But the simple multiplication involved when looking at 15 hours a semester during a four-year stint at college equals 120. So students will still be four hours short of graduating, and they won’t be getting the help of their scholarships anymore.

Thus, the number of students affected in a positive way by the flat-rate tuition remain limited. Sorry, but we’re still not on board.

Editorial policy: The content of the Opinion page does not necessarily represent the views of Texas Christian University. Unsigned editorials represent the view of the TCU Daily Skiff editorial board. Signed letters, columns and cartoons represent the opinion of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board.

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