Baylor’s fiscal issues are affecting far more than the dollar amount you see in BearWeb. It is fundamentally changing our university and what makes Baylor, Baylor. It’s hitting departments, retirement and, on a personal level, The Lariat’s newsroom.
Browsing: Tuition
I will always remember the exact moment when I openly stated, “I’m definitely not going to a private school or sticking around in Texas.” God had the last laugh. And I’m grateful that he did. My time at Baylor has been transformative. I’ve learned so much about myself these last couple of years and have grown so much as a person.
Exactly a month after Baylor announced a 6.5% tuition increase and a $35 million budget decrease, the administration defended its decision, explaining that it was part of a larger plan to save students money in the future.
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 back 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.
With all 1,700 spots filled, Student Foundation achieved a record-breaking number of sign-ups for the Bearathon, selling out of tickets more than a month before the race.
Baylor’s tuition has risen nearly 44.53% over the past decade, and the university’s most recent increase has drawn reactions from students and families about affordability and transparency.
President Linda Livingstone addressed faculty and staff in a campus-wide message detailing the financial review and the adjustments that were made. According to Livingstone, colleges all over the country are having a hard time right now because fewer students are enrolling, prices are going up and new rules are being made.
“We talk about our mission in every meeting that we have,” Board of Regents Chair William “Bill” Mearse said. “Our students are always our top priority.”
Depending on when they graduated, Baylor alumni will give you a different profile of their time in Waco. From year to year, those differences might be as small as a better football record or a few new faculty, but when you compare Baylor of the 1970s to the campus we call home today, the two schools are vastly different.
Instead of a big city high-rise, Morehead’s team works in a small red brick building in downtown Waco. Suits and ties are replaced with casual (mostly green and gold) clothes. And in an industry that’s mostly men, four out of the office’s five investment professionals are women. It all helps to put the attention on what really matters: making money for Baylor without touching students’ wallets.
Given the success of endowment returns over the past five years, Morehead said his office has a goal to continue to grow the endowment, so that for every billion dollars the endowment accrues, there is an additional $50 million that goes to student scholarships and programs.
The Baylor Board of Regents approved two new master’s degrees at its regular fall board meeting, making strides in the engineering and health sciences departments.
Wealth goes hand in hand with educational success. It can be a head start in the race for those who can afford it and an additional obstacle for those who can’t.
In August 2023, the Biden administration proposed the SAVE (Saving on a Valuable Education) plan as a new effort to relieve many college students and graduates from the burden of expensive education costs.
“Without the $100 million over the next year because of the endowment, every student would have to pay an additional $6,700 in their tuition,” Morehead said. “That is why the endowment is such an important funding system for the school.”
After a hectic year of classes, many students take the opportunity to rest and recharge during the summer. While I understand wanting to take a break, I think students should be more open to taking summer classes. Taking summer classes helps you complete hours in a cheaper, more individualized way.
Students could learn practical skills, make some spending money and even help lower the costs of the university. Now, just because it would lower the operating costs of the university doesn’t mean it would be reflected in a tuition drop — especially when you remember the sentiments in Vedder’s article.
Baylor has always had specific class requirements for graduating, such as taking Chapel, lifetime fitness, a foreign language and a science. Each of these classes counts toward attendance, tuition and GPA, so why don’t students get proper credit toward their degree plans with them?
Long story short, there are a lot of expenses when it comes to college, and students might not be well-equipped to handle them. Baylor has resources for financial aid and counseling; however, it’s still vital to understand what costs you or your family are paying and how they can impact you in the long run.
Regardless of which major you choose, it is wise to invest your time and money well. Baylor tuition is already an uphill battle, so it’s worth figuring out how to make the most of every penny. It starts by admitting that having only one major fails to do that.
Only suckers pay the sticker price, so let them! Instead, spend some time applying for a few scholarships after a well-thought-out conversation with a Baylor financial aid adviser. Somebody is going to walk home with that scholarship; why shouldn’t it be you?
The initial class action lawsuit was filed in June 2020 by then-student Allison King. She filed the original suit against Baylor for breach of the Financial Responsibility Agreement contract in the spring of 2020 when the university moved classes online in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Board of Regents, in the face of post-pandemic inflationary pressures and rising costs, approved a 6% increase in its tuition “sticker price” — $54,844 — for the 2023-2024 school year. However, the board also approved a new program titled “Baylor Benefit,” a financial aid initiative meant to help students whose family income is less than $50,000 per year.
The cost of textbooks should be included in the university’s tuition. Instead of making students feel as though they are paying an outside cost, they can use financial aid and scholarship money toward the costs of textbooks.
Student loans. The very words cause many in higher education to shudder in fear, and rightfully so. College, especially private schools such as Baylor, is expensive, and the debt can be hard for many people to get ahead of.
Baylor has been suspended from its students receiving tuition assistance from the U.S. Army.
College tuition inflation rates historically increase two times faster than the inflation rate of the dollar, according to Simple Tuition Services 2013. With rates such as these, students may struggle to pay for college.
Baylor’s tuition was $18,430 a year with fees in 2003, and in 2008, the tuition was, with fees, $26,234. Baylor University’s current tuition is roughly $36,137 per semester, with estimated fees attached. Some simply cannot afford to pay.
Colorado Springs, Colo., junior Chuck Voss is paying his own way at Baylor. It’s not cheap.
According to the Baylor Student Financial Services website, the total an average Baylor student pays for two semesters of undergraduate education is $51,214.
After a five-month legislative struggle in Austin in which the Baylor administration was an active lobbying force, steep budgetary cuts to the Tuition Equalization Grant program have hit Baylor graduate students and incoming freshmen the hardest.
With Texas Equalization Grant funding in peril in the state Legislature, President Ken Starr called on the Baylor family last week to contact legislators in hopes of saving the program.
