Show me the money
Flat-rate tuition may cause problems with athletic scholarships, recruiting

Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a series of stories examining the impact comprehensive tuition will have on the university.

By Carrie Woodall
Staff Reporter

The TCU athletic department may have to change the way scholarships are distributed for athletes because the flat-rate tuition causes coaches to be less flexible in their spending, said Jack Hesselbrock, associate athletics director for internal relations.

Assistant baseball coach Donnie Watson said that because decisions concerning the distribution of scholarships has not yet been determined for the flat rate, some coaches are having problems telling their recruits how much money TCU will offer them to play.

Signing day for recruits is Wednesday, and the coaches aren’t sure they will have the problem solved by that day.

“We can’t say anything to students who want to know what they are offered to play for TCU,” Watson said. “If we can’t tell them what type of scholarships are offered, we might lose potential players.”

Special to the Skiff TCU assistant baseball coach Donnie Watson (right), pictured in the dugout during a baseball game at the TCU Diamond, has said the change to a flat-rate tuition has caused problems in recruiting this year because coaches have been unable to tell recruits how much money they might receive.

In addition, fewer incoming students will receive scholarships for athletics under the flat-rate tuition, and may have more walk-ons, he said.

“Usually we would have a little money left over to give an extra player some type of small scholarship, but we won’t have that money available with the new structure,” Watson said.

However, Mark Evans, director of compliance, said the actual amounts of the scholarships will increase proportionately for the increase in the tuition. But every student’s case will be different because every coach determines their players’ scholarship amounts.

“Everyone has increasing costs so we will adjust scholarships with the tuition,” he said. “But it is difficult to comment about how the flat-rate will affect the athletes because every individual case varies.”

Hesselbrock said the athletics department must make sure recruits know they will be receiving scholarship money for 15 hours so they can have the option of taking an extra class. Some students may take advantage of the extra hours, but most of them will continue taking 12 hours because of time restrictions, he said.

“Instead of determining scholarships the way we did in the past with a 12 hour maximum, coaches will have to divide the scholarships up by percentages based on the flat rate,” Hesselbrock said.

Head track coach Monte Stratton said he sees potential problems with the flat rate and the athletics department. Stratton said there is more money to use with the per credit hour tuition plan because a greater percentage of money can be used for scholarships.

Evans said he hopes recruitment will not be hurt by the flat-rate tuition, but it clearly depends on how the students perceive the change in the structure.

“The flat rate is a change in the way things are done, but many (in the athletics department) are nervous about how things will work out among the students,” he said.

Jason Gray, director of compliance at Rice University, said that under the flat-rate tuition, there have not been any problems in deciphering scholarships for athletes at Rice.

“The flat-rate tuition has actually been a plus for us in recruitment because students like to hear that their tuition will remain the same as they go through college,” he said.

Gray said he could see how there would be problems during a transition period between tuition structures, but things work out in the end after a system has been used for a while.

Carrie Woodall
c.d.woodall@tcu.edu