By Josh Siatkowski | Staff Writer
Baylor students are sandwiched between two factors that compress the value of their education. On one side, a tightening job market is bringing prospects for young graduates down to COVID-19 lows. On the other side, disproportionate price increases in the already fast-growing industry of higher education continue to push the cost of a degree toward hard-to-believe figures.
The job market has always been tougher for recent college graduates than for graduates with more experience. But data from the New York Federal Reserve reveals that today, unemployment among recent college gradit is at 5.6%. This is now well above even the total unemployment rate of 4.2%, which includes those without degrees.
Furthermore, Cengage reports that even the jobs young professionals do find are not the ones they were hoping for. Only 30% of 2025 college graduates found work in their field within six months, compared to 41% the year prior. The same report also outlines that 76% of employers are hiring the same or fewer entry-level employees.
It is not possible or effective for colleges to adjust their costs to the labor market, so price hikes are expected even in tough conditions. The Education Data Initiative shows that among private institutions, tuition has increased by an average of 3.6% the last two years. But Baylor’s increases in the last two years have been well above that, going from $58,100 in 2024 to $67,756 in 2026 — an average annual increase of nearly 8%.
Last February, Baylor became more expensive than its peers, TCU and SMU, for the first time since before 2015. This year, the jump has continued, and Baylor’s lead has grown, with Baylor raising prices by 6.5%, TCU by 4.75% and SMU by 3%.
In short, the future earnings potential and current costs associated with a college education, especially for Baylor students, are both going in the wrong direction. There are many arguments to make in favor of Baylor’s value despite this tension, all of which are true: superior financial aid packages compared to other schools, low cost of living in Waco and a unique spiritual education.
But on the macro scale, graduates are being disillusioned by college prices. Only 33% of respondents in the Cengage survey felt their education was worth the cost. When the job outlook is tougher than usual and Baylor’s costs are soaring at a rate well above the average, it is hard to imagine Baylor students meaningfully departing from that figure if nothing changes.
While there hasn’t been any signaling as to future tuition increases, Baylor adjusted faculty retirement plans, decreasing the 10.8% contribution to 8%. For the sake of students and faculty alike, those drawbacks need to be reflected in future tuition payments.
