The university will increase academic scholarships at the same percentage rate as tuition next year, the director of scholarships and financial aid said.
Tuition will increase 8.4 percent to $26,900, and each academic scholarship will increase 8.4 percent also, said Mike Scott, director of scholarships and financial aid.
Previously, full-tuition Chancellor’s Scholarships were the only academic scholarships that increased with tuition from year to year, but next year all academic scholarships will increase with tuition, Scott said.
This scholarship percentage increase will apply to all academic scholarship recipients, both current and incoming students, Scott said.
Upperclassmen’s scholarship percentage increase will be based on next year’s tuition increase rather than the percent of tuition increase since they started at TCU, Scott said.
Scott said the university has not set the exact amount for each type of academic scholarship for incoming freshmen yet.
Next year’s scholarship increase for current students will cost the university about $1 million, Scott said.
The undergraduate financial aid budget usually received the same percentage increase as the tuition increase, but it will receive about a 25 percent increase for the 2008-2009 school year, Scott said.
The total financial aid budget will increase 18 percent next year, and the money will come from reallocations in the budget, Scott said.
This year, TCU spent about $16 million on academic scholarships and next year, it will spend about $17.5 million, Scott said.
The reason the university decided to increase scholarships proportionately with tuition was that it wanted to reward students who were doing well academically, Chancellor Victor Boschini said.
“One of the main complaints I got about tuition was from students receiving academic scholarships, because the need-based scholarships had increased, but their scholarships had not gone up with tuition,” Boschini said.
TCU will also increase the number of academic and need-based scholarships next year but has not set that number yet, Boschini said.
Currently, about 2,000 students are receiving academic scholarships, Scott said. Most of those students received one of four types of freshman academic scholarships, Scott said.
Ryan Dalrymple, a freshman engineering major and academic scholarship recipient, said he thinks TCU’s increasing the number of academic scholarships is a smart decision.
“There’s a lot of individuals who may not get to come if they don’t get scholarships,” Dalrymple said.
However, Andrew Hammond, a freshman neuroscience major and academic scholarship recipient, said he thinks the scholarship percentage increase is better.
“The number of scholarships is one thing, but the amount is where it really gets you,” Hammond said.
Scott said TCU has tried to increase scholarships with tuition for several years, but this year is the first year it was financially feasible.
“Anytime you make a change, there’s going to be a significant cost,” Scott said. “Specifically with financial aid, the only way you get funding is to take money from something else or raise tuition even more.”
TCU has about a $1.2 billion endowment, but the Board of Trustees only allows TCU to spend about 5 percent of that endowment, Scott said.
Scott said the university is exploring the possibility of providing students with a four-year fixed tuition rate. TCU would have to project the cost of tuition increases for four years and set a mean price that would remain fixed for four years, Scott said.
Scott said he does not know when and if a fixed tuition rate will become a reality, because it is still in the research stages.
