Feelings mixed over 7.9 percent tuition increase
Board: increase is necessary to
offset budget
By Brent Yarina
Staff Reporter

Board of Trustees members say the 7.9 percent tuition increase that was approved Friday is necessary to support a higher budget for next fall, but some students say the rise in tuition is unfair and shouldn’t be the result of university overspending.

At its annual winter meeting, the Board approved a $230 million budget and a tuition increase of nearly 8 percent, said Carol Campbell, vice chancellor of finance and business. She said this is an increase of $10 million dollars from the current $220 million budget, which will be implemented June 1.

The flat-rate tuition and fees for next fall will increase from $16,340 to $17,590, she said.

Campbell said students paying a flat rate will also experience a tuition increase from $455 an hour to $490 an hour.

Compared with 10 years ago, the cost of tuition and fees for 15 credit hours has increased from $8,970 in 1993 to $16,550 in 2003. Tuition and fees have increased by more than $1,000 each of the past three years.

Chancellor Michael Ferrari said the increase in tuition and fees was implemented to sustain TCU’s overall quality of academic programs and general operations. Ferrari said he considered the tuition increase only after almost $1.7 million in base expenses were cut or deferred for the upcoming year.

Trustee J. Roger Williams said despite the increase in tuition, TCU is still a bargain. The education a student receives here is much cheaper than at any other private university, he said.

“TCU does everything in a first-class fashion,” Williams said. “There’s a lot of value in the dollar at TCU.”

Mike Gray, a junior electrical engineer major, said he understands the university’s decision to increase tuition because it’s necessary if the university wants to be a more prestigious institution.

“I hope TCU can become a top-tier school because it would greatly benefit the quality of our degrees but that feat might also prevent many deserving students from being able to graduate,” Gray said.

Trustee Denny Alexander said he blamed the tuition increase on a difficult budget this year.

Between TCU building new facilities, providing better health benefits for faculty and staff and creating more financial aid, a 7.9 percent increase was needed, Alexander said.

He said the university always worries about losing students whenever tuition is increased, but because funding for financial aid increased by $2 million, he isn’t concerned about a significant decrease in enrollment next fall.

Brad King, a junior kinesiology major, said he thinks TCU should establish a grandfather clause where students pay a set rate established in their freshman year.

“It’s unfortunate that the university doesn’t take into consideration that every student can’t pay their tuition,” King said. “As my tuition is increased, my scholarship should also be proportionality increased.”

Brent Yarina
b.j.yarina@tcu.edu