Undergraduate aid affected by tuition increase
By David Reese
Staff Reporter

Next year’s $2.2 million financial aid increase by the Board of Trustees’ will be spread among athletes, undergraduate and graduate students, said Michael Scott, director of scholarships and student financial aid.

Scott said he expects financial aid for undergraduates next year to be increased by 8.7 percent, or about $1.5 million. This amount will equal the Board’s recent decision to increase tuition for the 2002-03 academic year from $420 hour to $455 an hour or $15,000 to $16,300 on the flat rate fee. Scott said the undergraduate financial aid budget was $13.8 million during this past year and expects the increase to equal $15 million.

The remainder of the $2.2 million will be dispersed between athletes and graduate students, he said.

Scott said the money is to be distributed through scholarships and grants. This amount does not include loans and is strictly based on award-based gifts, which means aid that students will not have to pay the money back.

“Financial aid is based on need, which is determined by the difference between family contribution and cost of attending the university,” Scott said.

He said if a student’s family contribution is the same as the year before and the cost of university increases, the student will receive an increase appropriate to his or her need.

Sandra Tobias, associate director of scholarships and student financial aid, said there is no exact way to tell how the increase in financial aid will affect each individual student at this point in the semester. Financial aid was unable to provide any exact numbers of how individual students will be affected in 2001-02.

Scott said that the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid is currently working on individual award amounts.

According to the Academic Scholarships, Financial Aid and Tuition and Costs pamphlet distributed by the admissions office, such scholarships and grants include the TCU Grant, Chancellor Scholarship and dozens more.

Scott said the office of Scholarships and Student Financial Aid can ask for an increase of financial aid in incremental amounts above the increase they will already receive.

He said, this past year, his office asked for additional incremental increases in scholarships for music and community scholars.

Dean of Admissions Ray Brown said admissions will discuss the increases in financial aid with prospective students but the reality is that people are not typically concerned with their financial aid until they are accepted.

“The overall sticker price is what they look at initially,” Brown said.

David Reese
d.w.reese@student.tcu.edu

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