Flat rate causes some concerns
Opinions of tuition differ

By Carrie Woodall
Staff Reporter

The $7,500 flat-rate tuition for incoming students is based on 15 credit hours a semester and includes an increased university fee of $750, Chancellor Michael Ferrari said.

Ferrari also said credit hours would be raised to $420 an hour for returning students, excluding MBA and EMBA students.

When calculated, 15 credit hours equals $6,300. When the university fee is added it still leaves an unaccounted $450.

Kelli Horst, director of communications, said the actual number figures out to approximately 16 hours, and that is closer to the 15-hour base than 18 hours.

The set university fee increased from $60 to $65 a credit hour and is distributed between Student Government Association, health services, the Student Center and other student-related items.

Ferrari said most private institutions have a flat-rate tuition with their students averaging 15 hours a semester. He said this average promotes a four-year graduation.

“I know it’s hard for students to believe, but most private institutions take pride in their students graduating in a four-year period,” he said.

“Private education is so expensive in the first place that the greatest push is to get students to get their baccalaureate in four or 4 1/2 years.”

Elizabeth Rickman, freshman history major, said that even though the flat rate is based on 15 hours, she likes the credit hour charge that current students will continue paying.

“I don’t know why we need to change things when the credit hour base has obviously been working for years,” she said.

Ray Brown, dean of admissions, said society has become desensitized to the idea of graduating in five or six years.

“People think (graduating in five or six years) is OK,” he said. “I don’t think it’s OK. Students are wasting time. Time is so precious.”

Brown said students need to finish so they can make a contribution to society.

“People go to college for themselves, which is good, but we need to get (the students) desensitized to the merits of a four-year degree,” he said.

Victoria Tschoepe, a sophomore social work major, disagrees with Brown and said she thinks it is acceptable for students to stay in school for more than four years.

“If I could, I would take five years to get through my major,” Tschoepe said.

Ferrari said that contrary to what most students believe, there is not any financial benefit for the university with the new flat rate.

“The university collects more money if students do what they are doing right now by staying here an extra one or two years,” he said. “If a student takes five years to get a degree, that is actually financially good for the university because we keep collecting all these fees.”

Ferrari said he understands why the overwhelming majority of private schools have a flat fee.

“I spent 13 years in higher education in public schools before coming to TCU,” he said. “All the public schools charge by credit hour because the state pays them according to the amount of credit hours the students take.”

He said that as a private university, TCU does not have state money and does not need to charge by credit hour.

“When I say I would like to see more students graduate in a four-year period, it’s not because it’ll look better in a rating magazine, but for purely student advantage,” Ferrari said. “The university should set its curriculum so that students have the ability to graduate in a four-year time period.”

Carrie Woodall
c.d.woodall@student.tcu.edu