• The KillerFrogs

TCU 360: Tuition to exceed $50,000 moving forward

Wexahu

Full Member
i buy the logic that you spend money on the faculty to improve the quality of the education.

i buy the logic on class size etc...but what i don't buy is the new dorms or the campus environment that in no way replicates the real world.

the only logic to me is that to sell the price tag you need the bright and shiny campus which seems contrary to the message of selling the value of the education

Haven't actually been in any of the new dorms but by the looks of them from the outside, there is a fair chance without mom and dad's help that students will have to move into a crappier place after college. Seems backwards but oh well.
 

Mean Purple

Active Member
Haven't actually been in any of the new dorms but by the looks of them from the outside, there is a fair chance without mom and dad's help that students will have to move into a crappier place after college. Seems backwards but oh well.
To be fair, Wex, my first place to live out of school was not near as nice as my parent's home, which was not high end. Odds are, they see the dorm room as temp place to stay. I was rarely in old Clark. Either in my studies or working. And the occasional adventure.
 

Wexahu

Full Member
To be fair, Wex, my first place to live out of school was not near as nice as my parent's home, which was not high end. Odds are, they see the dorm room as temp place to stay. I was rarely in old Clark. Either in my studies or working. And the occasional adventure.

That probably applies to most students I guess. Point I was making was that these dorms look like they might be nicer than the an average to above-average apartment and when most people think of a dorm it's anything but that. Talking out of my rear end a bit though as like I said I've never really been in one. Amazed at how immaculate they look from the outside though. I know one thing, i sure as hell am not going to pay anything close to $64k/year to send my kid to TCU. Ohio State maybe, but not TCU. ;)
 

WhiteHispanicFrog

Curmudgeon
That probably applies to most students I guess. Point I was making was that these dorms look like they might be nicer than the an average to above-average apartment and when most people think of a dorm it's anything but that. Talking out of my rear end a bit though as like I said I've never really been in one. Amazed at how immaculate they look from the outside though. I know one thing, i sure as hell am not going to pay anything close to $64k/year to send my kid to TCU. Ohio State maybe, but not TCU. ;)

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Why would you even consider it? Why would anybody?

Why would I? Because I want to believe TCU has it in them to build a world-class university for all, not just the wealthy, and that that future would be good for me given I have a degree from TCU.

But, their continued behavior makes it really hard.

I'd love to see TCU just TRY to keep expense growth at 2-3% per student for a few years so they can prove to themselves that it CAN indeed be done.
 

LVH

Active Member
TCU has become a lot like Las Vegas. Both only seem to care about the 1%ers from California and to hell with the common man and everyone else.

Las Vegas used to be about everyone, now it seems like the city only wants to attract rich 1%ers from California and has priced out the average person/middle class.

TCU is doing the same.

Despite having a 25% scholarship, I worked 2 jobs for a few years to pay off the rest of my loans from TCU but I do not see how anyone could pull that off with what tuition is now. Even if someone graduated and started with my current salary(well over $100k) I do not see how anyone could feasibly pay off their loans from a TCU education in a reasonable amount of time.
 

Froggish

Active Member
Good points here. A bachelor's degree isn't necessary for a lot of people. "Go to college, get a degree" is not really the universal key to a good life that it was 30 years ago.
True...I work with many people making 6 figures without degrees..Those opportunities are still out there for the people with their right work ethic and appropriate amount of self awareness.
 
TCU has become a lot like Las Vegas. Both only seem to care about the 1%ers from California and to hell with the common man and everyone else.

Las Vegas used to be about everyone, now it seems like the city only wants to attract rich 1%ers from California and has priced out the average person/middle class.

TCU is doing the same.

Despite having a 25% scholarship, I worked 2 jobs for a few years to pay off the rest of my loans from TCU but I do not see how anyone could pull that off with what tuition is now. Even if someone graduated and started with my current salary(well over $100k) I do not see how anyone could feasibly pay off their loans from a TCU education in a reasonable amount of time.

Finally figured out your screen name. Didn't realize you're from Vegas. Thought it stood for Last Virgin Here
 

flyfishingfrog

Active Member
dude, just stop. you drug in average cost of UT. that link shows their cost of attendance. and it broke it down beyond tuition. And I know how endowments work.
Fact is, with an investment, should come a judgement of ROI.
I agree everyone has to do their own ROI - that doesn't mean reality isnt reality. Most peoples kids are not going to get into UT and those that do could often get enough money from TCU to make the difference negligible - but you have to understand how TCU works for that to happen.

But if you think cost of attendance figures are the same as cost of education for a university - then you don't understand endowments and how they work.

The UT Board estimated last year that the average cost of delivering an education to a UT undergrad was over $70k per year per student including room and board for on campus housed students.

Because they determined that the total cost of attendance tuition and room/board, etc) for that same student is around $20k, that means the UT endowment earnings are covering $50k/yr per student on average to reduce the $70k to $20k to keep it simple. Thus the earnings they have decided to distribute from the UT endowment cover about 72% of operating costs for on campus undergrads. Not surprising since UT has one of the top 5 endowments in the country thanks to the state of Texas Land Trust giving them the majority of their proceeds.

I don't remember off the top of my head what percentage of our operating budget is covered by our endowment - but it is more like 20%, not 70%. Therefore if our cost per student to deliver an undergrad education was the same $70k, then we would have to have a cost of attendance of $57k for that same student.

Which is pretty close to reality today for both schools.

Therefore if we can get our endowment up - the entire point of Lead On campaign - to where we can fund even 50-60% of the cost of delivering an education to a student, then our total cost of attendance would be a lot closer to UT - about say $28k/year per student in today's dollars.

Some public schools have an actual lower cost of delivering an education - for lots of reasons discussed before like higher student/faculty ratios, more GA's, non-PHD's, etc - but most public schools have a lower tuition because they are subsidized by the state through taxes or some other budgetary means at the state operating budget level - not because they actually spend less money per student.
 

Dogfrog

Active Member
My tuition & fees back in '72 were @$1,800. In today's money, that's @$11,000, which was a chunk of change for the 3rd of 4 minister's kids who went to TCU. No way that would happen today!

Yep. And tuition guaranteed at $60 per semester hour for four years.
 

flyfishingfrog

Active Member
i buy the logic that you spend money on the faculty to improve the quality of the education.

i buy the logic on class size etc...but what i don't buy is the new dorms or the campus environment that in no way replicates the real world.

the only logic to me is that to sell the price tag you need the bright and shiny campus which seems contrary to the message of selling the value of the education
how many 18 year olds have you met that make a decision for what university to attend purely based on the quality of the education?
I would say that more make a decision on how good the football team is and how good the social scene is than on the quality of the education by a long shot.

Not to say they want to go to TCC instead of Harvard because they can party more - but at some point the differences in education quality between schools after Ivy, Stanford, etc is small enough that students more often use other criteria to make the final decision.

Again - we were the second most selective school in the state last year - so right or wrong, VBo's approach of creating a great campus atmosphere is working like gangbusters for now.
 

Tom Brown

Active Member
I can appreciate that rationale but I would almost guarantee I would've found just as great of a wife, just as good of friends and would've probably had the same career path had I gone to UT, OU or A&M. I'm thankful that my parents paid for my degree when it was 22.5k a year. Some of my friends weren't so lucky and are still paying off student debt 10+ years later. I can't help but wonder how much bigger of a hole they'd be in if they financed 50K a year.

This comment seems off. A songwriter with acoustic love songs is not enough of a romantic to think his wife is his soulmate. Perhaps you'd have the same career field, but i doubt the bricks in the career path would be the same. Is it the destination or the journey?

I'm not disagreeing with "the value of your TCU degree" but I feel like you are underselling the emotional worth of your TCU experience. Additionally, the TCU "community", with it's familial nature, is pretty supportive of your music. The nameless, faceless UT's and OU's would probably only support you AFTER you make it, not along the way.
 

SnoSki

Full Member
This comment seems off. A songwriter with acoustic love songs is not enough of a romantic to think his wife is his soulmate. Perhaps you'd have the same career field, but i doubt the bricks in the career path would be the same. Is it the destination or the journey?

I'm not disagreeing with "the value of your TCU degree" but I feel like you are underselling the emotional worth of your TCU experience. Additionally, the TCU "community", with it's familial nature, is pretty supportive of your music. The nameless, faceless UT's and OU's would probably only support you AFTER you make it, not along the way.

all valid points. The TCU community has been very supportive for a while now and the familial nature of the campus certainly helped that.
 

geezer

Colonel, USAF (Retired)
100% of the debate really - do we need all the stuff that TCU has now or should we just focus on competing academically and really athletically with the SFA, University of North Texas, DBU, ACU's of the world instead of the Baylor, SMU, Rice, Vandy and Wake Forests.

Lots of people think VBo went overboard in some areas or we need to reduce the degrees we offer to reduce faculty or we should increase the student:faculty ratio, etc.

but the cost of TCU is not out of line with the other private schools that are in our sphere of competition - that doesn't mean those are the schools we should be competing against for students or overall experience.

The annual cost of attendance at the University of Tulsa is now at $53,148...and I assure you TU doesn't offer half the product or environment that TCU does.

https://utulsa.edu/financial-aid/tuition-costs/

The new TU president has proposed sweeping cuts in the academic programs the university will offer--all budget-driven. He faces a faculty vote of no confidence today.
 

HToady

Full Member
If your child has the maturity to go to a two year institution first, then they can virtually transfer anywhere more economically and still get that paper that says nothing of spending academic time elsewhere.

However, you miss out on developing friendships, through fraternity and sorority, you miss out on living in those extremely comfortable dorms. Remember Greek Life is not included in those numbers and that ain't cheap either!

TCU is promoting and banking on the former for the total college experience rather than just the diploma. $5,100 to take a history class is not necessary
 
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