• The KillerFrogs

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

mc1502

Full Member
My son would be a fourth generation Horned Frog. I'm pushing him towards Texas and UT-D because TCU prioritizes the wealthy over top students. I get the business decision they made, it's just disappointing as an alum.

Same here

1) My grandfather went to TCU
2) Both of my parents went to TCU
3) My wife and I went to TCU

Both of my kids will almost certainly go somewhere else.

And I will note as a sidebar that the tide started turning on that tradition this year when we dropped our 28 year long history of buying football season tickets after the cost went up to $8,000 for tickets and parking for my family of 4.

And TCU couldn't care less.
 
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cheese83

Full Member
again - show me where all this "excess" money is being hoarded by the school? if they were just charging whatever to make money, the money would be somewhere on the financial statements.

so where is it?

I have not read any of the financial statements, are they available to the public?
 

flyfishingfrog

Active Member
That’s ridiculous, I graduated from TCU a little over 10 years ago and you’re telling me they’re justified in essentially doubling the cost? They’re pricing out tons of people that likely went there when I was a student and even before that.

If you don't see the difference in TCU from 10 years ago today - then I can't help you.

You want to argue they should spend money differently - then that is an argument that can be made. We could have a lot less PHD level professors, use more adjuncts, reduce the number of programs we offer, increase the number of students per faculty ratio, etc.

Lots of ways to reduce costs if that was the only goal.

But right now TCU continues to use 100% of the allocated earnings from the endowment every year - so obviously the tuition rate is not resulting in excess cash or the school would be putting money back into the endowment - or at least not using the earnings from it - to fund operations.

The real issue for TCU and really every university but particularly private schools - is going to be in 2025 when the number of kids that are even going to college is 10% lower going down every year due to a population reduction in that age group.
 

flyfishingfrog

Active Member
My kids better take the purple glasses off. I'm anticipating trips to Austin in the future to see my kids on parents weekend.
here is a small hint - if you kids can actually get into UT without doing the ACC route - then they can apply to TCU for early decision and there is an 80% chance that if accepted, the merit scholarship would offset the tuition difference.

Unless you mean you were going to meet your kids that are going to Tx State in Austin on weekends.

But continue to complain without any understanding of the actual situation.
 

froginaustin

Active Member
My kids better take the purple glasses off. I'm anticipating trips to Austin in the future to see my kids on parents weekend.

Ain't saying that UTx shouldn't be an option, but UTx only houses about 8,000 or so on campus while enrolling about 50,000. Off-campus housing is either very expensive or a long (time in Austin gridlock as much as physical distance) commute from campus, or both. It'll be a while, if ever, if it costs as much to register for classes at UTx as it does at TCU. But it's certainly not out of the question.

Disappointing increases in the costs of things like education and health care seem to be market-driven in that people will bleed out paying for the "first class" product and disdain the bargain. Smarter people than I will fix that problem.
 

flyfishingfrog

Active Member
I have not read any of the financial statements, are they available to the public?
between what is available publicly and what TCU releases to the public via things like campaigns, ranking services, tax returns - there is very little about the financial situation or performance of the school (or any school) that is not available.
 

cheese83

Full Member
If you don't see the difference in TCU from 10 years ago today - then I can't help you.

You want to argue they should spend money differently - then that is an argument that can be made. We could have a lot less PHD level professors, use more adjuncts, reduce the number of programs we offer, increase the number of students per faculty ratio, etc.

Lots of ways to reduce costs if that was the only goal.

But right now TCU continues to use 100% of the allocated earnings from the endowment every year - so obviously the tuition rate is not resulting in excess cash or the school would be putting money back into the endowment - or at least not using the earnings from it - to fund operations.

The real issue for TCU and really every university but particularly private schools - is going to be in 2025 when the number of kids that are even going to college is 10% lower going down every year due to a population reduction in that age group.

I didn’t ask for your help and of course I’ve noticed the difference in the campus and type of student.

As I asked earlier where are the financial documents for the endowment as I’d like to look over them.
 

Eight

Member
here is a small hint - if you kids can actually get into UT without doing the ACC route - then they can apply to TCU for early decision and there is an 80% chance that if accepted, the merit scholarship would offset the tuition difference.

Unless you mean you were going to meet your kids that are going to Tx State in Austin on weekends.

But continue to complain without any understanding of the actual situation.

i can tell you that when our youngest daughter applied to colleges six years ago she applied to tcu, texas, acu, and two out of state schools

she got in all five, she was accepted into mccombs, the scholarship offer from texas was a letter welcoming her to the mccomb's school, tcu's offer was joke, ou offered her instate tuition, and acu's offer made it the cheaper that ut and factoring in the cost of living in abilene versus austin it was a no brainer.

got her degree, got her masters, got her job, we didn't go broke, and she actually banked money her last year in undergrad when you add in her rodeo money
 

UltimateFrog

Active Member
Why is the cost to TCU increasing by 4.9% this year? If TCU is simply offsetting their costs with tuition, then somewhere we are spending 4.9% more. Why? I’ve been to campus, it’s remarkable. Why do kids need country club dorms? Why do they need to renovate every single building? Expand the sidewalk? Why?

Really confused why we need so much change at a school where enrollment doesn’t increase much.
 

mc1502

Full Member
here is a small hint - if you kids can actually get into UT without doing the ACC route - then they can apply to TCU for early decision and there is an 80% chance that if accepted, the merit scholarship would offset the tuition difference.

Unless you mean you were going to meet your kids that are going to Tx State in Austin on weekends.

But continue to complain without any understanding of the actual situation.

I understand the situation perfectly. But thank you for replying to my post when you know exactly zero about my situation.

Unlike some on this board, I'm not a CEO or CFO, so I have to actually have a well thought out, long term financial plan to cover my kid's tuition. I don't have the luxury to hope that my kid qualifies for whatever. With two kids to plan for, I have to plan towards a number, and that number isn't going to be $250k per kid, which is likely what TCU will cost all in by the time my oldest goes to college.
 

dawg

Active Member
If you don't see the difference in TCU from 10 years ago today - then I can't help you.

You want to argue they should spend money differently - then that is an argument that can be made. We could have a lot less PHD level professors, use more adjuncts, reduce the number of programs we offer, increase the number of students per faculty ratio, etc.

Lots of ways to reduce costs if that was the only goal.

So having more PhD's and keeping class sizes small are what is justifying tuition increasing $44k in 24 years? Both of those were not issues when I was earning my degree from 1996 - 2001. I accrued something north of 130 credit hours, and only two of my courses were taught by a professor who wasn't a PhD: freshman non-science major biology and creative writing (Sherwood was working on his PhD). Well, three if you count marching band (Foster was also working on his PhD). Only three courses had more than 30 students: again, non-science major biology, marching band and history of mass comm.
 
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froginaustin

Active Member
Why is the cost to TCU increasing by 4.9% this year? If TCU is simply offsetting their costs with tuition, then somewhere we are spending 4.9% more. Why? I’ve been to campus, it’s remarkable. Why do kids need country club dorms? Why do they need to renovate every single building? Expand the sidewalk? Why?

Really confused why we need so much change at a school where enrollment doesn’t increase much.

Because if TCU doesn't keep up with the SMUs and the Trinitys (and maybe even the Baylors-- gag) TCU won't have to worry about enrollment (or at least applications) increasing.
 

flyfishingfrog

Active Member
i can tell you that when our youngest daughter applied to colleges six years ago she applied to tcu, texas, acu, and two out of state schools

she got in all five, she was accepted into mccombs, the scholarship offer from texas was a letter welcoming her to the mccomb's school, tcu's offer was joke, ou offered her instate tuition, and acu's offer made it the cheaper that ut and factoring in the cost of living in abilene versus austin it was a no brainer.

got her degree, got her masters, got her job, we didn't go broke, and she actually banked money her last year in undergrad when you add in her rodeo money

Again - when she applied to TCU, did she apply for early decision or just general acceptance?

The percentage of students receiving merit scholarships and the size of those awards are largest during early acceptance (when you say you will come to TCU if they accept you).

If not, then she competed with about 18k students for about 800 remaining spots after those that commited to TCU were given their financial merit awards.

I can give you 100 examples of kids that went to TCU for less than UT because they applied for early decision.
 

flyfishingfrog

Active Member
So having more PhD's and keeping class sizes small are what is justifying tuition increasing $44k in 24 years? Both of those were not issues when I was earning my degree from 1996 - 2001. I accrued something north of 130 credit hours, and only two of my courses was taught by a professor who wasn't a PhD: freshman non-science major biology and creative writing (Sherwood was working on his PhD). Well, three if you count marching band (Foster was also working on his PhD). Only two courses had more than 30 students: again, non-science major biology, marching band and history of mass comm.
what did the avg professor make in 2000 vs today?

how many degrees and specialty focus areas did TCU offer in 2000 vs today?

How many PHDs did we have in 2000 vs today?

What was the average class load of a professor in 2000 vs today?

Again - if you don't believe the cost is going up, then simply show me where all the extra money is going since they are just increasing tuition because they can...
 
Again - when she applied to TCU, did she apply for early decision or just general acceptance?

The percentage of students receiving merit scholarships and the size of those awards are largest during early acceptance (when you say you will come to TCU if they accept you).

If not, then she competed with about 18k students for about 800 remaining spots after those that commited to TCU were given their financial merit awards.

I can give you 100 examples of kids that went to TCU for less than UT because they applied for early decision.
Go ahead
 

flyfishingfrog

Active Member
I didn’t ask for your help and of course I’ve noticed the difference in the campus and type of student.

As I asked earlier where are the financial documents for the endowment as I’d like to look over them.
call the school and ask for info on the Lead On campaign - they will be happy to provide you details on the endowment size, composition, ROI, dispersion of funds, growth goals, etc.
 
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