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Out of Reach?
 The rising cost of a college education can appear daunting. But, university officials say, recent boosts in financial aid are helping students attain their dream of a Baylor degree.
By Meg Cullar, Illustration by Carey Sookochef,
Photographs by Joe Griffin
The numbers don't lie—college tuition nationwide is going up at a rate
much higher than that of general inflation. Even public institutions
are not immune, especially those in Texas since the state deregulated
tuition in recent years. Tuition and fees at the University of Texas at
Austin, for instance, rose more than 103 percent between the academic
years of 2001-02 and 2007-08, according to figures reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
As a result, today's Longhorns pay $7,670 in tuition and fees for the
year—or $24,544 if they aren't Texas residents. Texans choosing to
attend Texas A&M University this year paid $7,335 in tuition and
fees (97 percent higher than in 2001-02), while the same figure for a
Texas Tech Red Raider was $6,783 (94 percent higher than 2001-02).
The bill for tuition and fees at Texas's private universities is
predictably higher. For example, the cost at Texas Christian University
rose 65 percent between the 2001-02 academic year and 2007-08,
resulting in a price tag of $24,868 for tuition and fees this year. The
comparable numbers for Southern Methodist University show an increase
of 48 percent, a cost of $30,880 for annual tuition and fees.
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings tackled head-on the
issue of rising tuition when she appointed the Secretary of Education's
Commission on Higher Education in 2005. In September 2006, the
commission released its report, and in a speech about the report
Spellings said that it "described serious shortcomings in
accessibility, affordability, accountability, and quality" of the
nation's system of higher education.
Spellings said that, due to complacency and a lack of cost controls,
America's institutions of higher learning are in danger of losing their
preeminent position in the world. One of the reasons she cited is that,
"College prices have far outpaced income and even healthcare, and our
financial aid system remains confusing, complex, and inefficient." This
rapid escalation of tuition has meant that many lower-income students
no longer consider college as an option, she said. "And many more
lower-income and middle-class students who are lucky enough to attend
begin their careers saddled with debt."
That's the national picture. Now let's zoom in closer to home and
consider these numbers: a freshman or transfer student entering Baylor
in the fall of 2001 paid $12,804 in tuition and required fees for the
year. In the fall of 2008, students at Baylor will pay a total of
$26,084 in tuition and fees—an increase of 103.7 percent. As tuition
has steadily increased, however, Baylor has tried to help students by
increasing its financial aid offerings. For the 2006-07 academic year
(the last one for which there are complete numbers), Baylor awarded
$77.9 million from its own coffers in gift aid, both merit and need
based, to undergraduate students. In 2007-08, more than $110.3 million
has been awarded to date in institutional funds for all students,
including graduate, law, and professional students.
These are numbers that reflect a change in Baylor's overall approach to
tuition—and aid awards—in the last decade or so. While Baylor's price
tag used to lag significantly behind other private institutions in
Texas—such as TCU and SMU—it now comes much closer, although still
lower. For the academic year 2001-02, Baylor's tuition was $4,319 below
the national average for four-year private colleges, while for 2007-08
Baylor was $778 above the national average, according to averages
published by the Chronicle of Higher Education each year.
"Across the nation in recent years, the costs associated with a college
education have increased, and Baylor has not been immune from that
trend," Dr. John Lilley, Baylor’s president, told the Line.
"It should be noted, however, that during that same time period, growth
in scholarship dollars has significantly outpaced tuition increases.
Our financial-aid office is committed to helping every student
understand the complete cost of a Baylor education, and they work
diligently with our students to find the best way to finance their
education. More than 70 percent of Baylor students receive financial
aid of one kind or another."
Baylor officials say the shift in the university's price of tuition is
the result of a number of factors, including rising costs, national
trends, and underwriting the ten-year strategic plan. A Baylor press
release on September 21, 2001, announcing the strategic plan's approval
by the Board of Regents stated that the regents had also "adopted a new
tuition structure designed to help fund the initiative and align the
institution's pricing system with its peer universities." Effective
with the 2002-03 academic year, the press release went on to state,
Baylor would institute a new flat-tuition rate. Although continuing
students were grandfathered in at a lower rate, new students at Baylor
saw tuition and fees go up by 34.4 percent that year.
Since then, the average increase in tuition and fees has been more than 7 percent per year at Baylor, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Meanwhile, according to the Chronicle,
the average tuition and fees of four-year private colleges in the U.S.
went up by 6 percent or less each year from 2001-02 through 2006-07,
but then jumped by 6.7 percent before the 2007-08 academic year.
At the same time they were raising tuition prices, Baylor officials
significantly increased financial aid offerings. Last fall, the
university announced that, of incoming freshmen who qualified for
need-based financial assistance, Baylor provided more than 50 percent
of the funds needed in direct scholarships. In the last ten years,
Baylor has increased institutional gift aid five-fold. Institutional
aid includes both merit-based aid and need-based aid and comes from
designated endowed scholarship funds as well as out of Baylor’s general
operating fund.
But despite the growth in aid awarded, many alumni and parents worry
about the financial accessibility of Baylor, especially for those whose
incomes are in the middle range. While students from lower-income
categories often qualify for generous amounts of aid, and those in the
upper incomes can pay their own way, critics of Baylor's cost say that
some students are caught in the middle.
What is Baylor doing to help such students? How do those families pay
for a Baylor education? How aid money is awarded and who gets it is
complicated, to say the least, and the answers are as varied as the
students. Consider three students, none of whom qualified for
need-based grants or scholarships, which don't require repayment.
Student Stories
Gary Guadagnolo (left), a senior University Studies major, attracted
the attention of Baylor officials as a model high school student who
scored high on tests, ranked toward the top of his class, held various
leadership roles on his campus, and was an Eagle Scout. In addition to
a merit-based scholarship awarded because of impressive SAT/ACT scores
and high school class rank, he also benefits from the Carr P. Collins
Scholars Program and the Dr. and Mrs. Zack Bobo Jr. Scholarship Fund.
Even though the scholarships are not need-based, Guadagnolo says he
wouldn't be able to afford Baylor without the financial help.
"My parents had saved up and were willing to pay for me to go to a
state school," he says. "They were happy I wanted to go to Baylor, but
I had to make up the difference somehow."
The Collins scholarship is a competitive award given to only eight
incoming freshmen each year and based primarily on leadership and
community service. To maintain that assistance, Guadagnolo must perform
sixty hours of community service each year. The Bobo scholarship also
lasts for four years and is awarded to students from the Arlington
area. Guadagnolo's high school counselor, who graduated from Baylor,
was a big help, he says. "It's been a real blessing that I was able to
get significant scholarships to match what my parents were doing. Not
everyone has that opportunity."
As a Baylor student, Guadagnolo has held up his end of the deal
admirably, becoming the kind of student Baylor can brag about. He has a
4.0 GPA, is in the Honors Program and the Mortar Board Honor Society,
and has won numerous honors, including a prestigious U.S. Department of
State scholarship to study abroad last summer. After graduation, he
plans to study in Russia for a year and then return to the U.S. to
pursue a PhD. "I'd love to become a professor," he says, "and maybe
come back to Baylor one day."
Fallon Rice (right), a junior accounting major, is also the kind of student Baylor wants on campus. She has a 3.64 overall GPA
and is one of the students chosen to teach in Baylor's Supplemental
Instruction program in accounting, in which she tutors younger Baylor
students. She holds leadership positions in numerous honor societies
and in her sorority, speaks often on Baylor's behalf to high school
recruits, and has won leadership awards. In addition, she is African
American, and Baylor has clearly stated its goal to increase minority
enrollment.
But Rice is struggling to pay for her Baylor education. She's racked up
more than $100,000 in loans, and her grandfather recently went back to
work to help her out. She did earn a merit scholarship, but that dollar
amount stays the same each year while tuition rises, she notes. "I'm
doing better at Baylor than I did in high school, yet I can't get any
more assistance based on that," she says.
"My dad is a pastor, and I'm the oldest of four, so they really aren't
able to help me much," she says. The family applied for need-based aid,
Rice says, but didn't qualify for anything other than loans and
work-study. She's hoping that when her younger sister enters college
this fall, it will help in recalculating her aid package. Mainly, she's
just trying to make it until January 2009. Then she will be finished
with the undergraduate accounting program and will enter a three-month
internship in accounting, for which she will be paid. And if she scores
well on her entrance exams for graduate school, she could qualify for
tuition remission for her year of graduate work. She is confident about
landing a high-paying job at a big accounting firm after graduation, so
she's not worried about repaying her loans.
"I love Baylor, and I feel like Baylor is doing a great job to prepare
me," Rice says, noting the stellar passing rates of Baylor students on
the CPA exam. "But if the tuition is going to be that much, they really
need to provide more help."
Chris Porter (left) found himself in a similar situation, but he chose
a different solution. Having grown up in Waco with a mother who is an
alumna, he had always wanted to come to Baylor, and he did just that in
the fall of 2004 as a freshman education major. He earned a merit
scholarship, which, he says, "cut off a little bit, but we still had a
hefty amount of loans." His family didn't qualify for need-based
federal aid or work-study—only loans.
After a year at Baylor and some uncertainty about his goals, Porter was
asked by his parents to consider enrolling at McLennan Community
College for his sophomore year, until he figured out what he wanted to
do. While there, Porter definitely decided to become a teacher. But
considering a future on a teacher's income, Porter and his parents
decided he should look around before returning to Baylor. He decided to
enroll at the University of North Texas (UNT) instead.
"They have a great teaching program, like Baylor, but at a fraction of
the cost," he says. "I wish I was at Baylor," he adds, "because I liked
Baylor a whole lot more. But I understand that it wasn't feasible
without going into a lot of debt."
When he first enrolled, Porter wasn't eligible for merit-based aid at
UNT. But recently he's raised his grades and received an e-mail from
the school asking him to apply for merit-based aid based on his current
GPA. "You fill out a questionnaire, and they will match you with
scholarships," he says. "There's no guarantee, but I fit the
qualifications for more than thirty of them, so I hope I'll get one."
Porter expects to graduate from UNT in May of 2009—one year late—with a debt in the neighborhood of $25,000 to $30,000.
ABCs of Financial Aid
To figure out what makes the difference from one student to the
next—and what it takes to get financial aid—it's helpful to have a
rough idea of how the awarding of aid works at Baylor.
Baylor begins with a system of merit-based scholarships that are
awarded up front—upon admission. The awards are based on a combination
of SAT/ACT scores and high school class rank. For incoming freshmen,
there are four different levels of scholarship available, beginning
with the Dean’s Gold Scholarship, which, for the 2008-09 year, offers
between $2,000 and $5,000 per academic year. The top level is the
Regents' Gold, given to National Merit Finalists who select Baylor as
their first-choice college, and it offers up to full tuition.
Beyond the merit awards, students have to fill out the Free Application
for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, as it's commonly known. This is
submitted to the federal government, which establishes an "expected
family contribution" based on family income, savings, the number of
students in college, and many other factors. Then the accepted student
gets a package from Baylor, explaining other financial aid. This can
include direct gift aid that doesn't have to be repaid—like Pell Grants
and the TEG (Texas Equalization Grant)—as well as federally subsidized
loans (which carry a lower interest rate than unsubsidized loans) and
work-study. Baylor also awards need-based scholarships from its own
coffers.
Many students may want to know this kind of information even before
they apply to Baylor, and the university is doing its best to help
them. Two tools on Baylor's financial aid website are invaluable to
high school students considering Baylor.
The first is the "Scholarship Calculator." Students can fill in their
exact SAT or ACT score and their rank in their high school class, click
"calculate," and Baylor will tell them how much they will be awarded in
merit-based aid according to their input.
Even more helpful is the "Financial Aid Estimator," but it's also more
involved. Baylor was the first university in the nation to offer such a
tool when it went online in the fall of 2006, says Jackie Diaz,
Baylor's assistant vice president for financial aid. Prospective
students and parents, with their most recent tax return at hand, can
enter information similar to what's requested on the FAFSA and get an
estimate of need-based and merit aid.
"I'd recommend that students, even if they think they won't qualify, go
out and try the estimator," Diaz says. "It's completely anonymous, and
you can get an idea of whether you will qualify without filling out the
actual FAFSA. Many people think they won't qualify for anything, when
in fact there are many scenarios for families to receive aid. Let me
caution, however, that this is not a substitute for completing the
FAFSA. That step must still be completed before any need-based aid can
be awarded."
In a typical year, Diaz notes, about 85 percent of those who submit the
FAFSA qualify for need-based aid. In 2006-07, more than 92 percent of
those who qualified actually received some sort of gift aid, she says.
Baylor's estimator will determine the yearly "expected family
contribution." It will calculate the merit scholarship based on scores
provided and come up with an estimate of federal aid, state aid, and
Baylor institutional need-based aid. These online tools can really help
prospective students determine what they will need to pay, Diaz says.
"When I was in school I think everyone paid full tuition," says Dr.
Reagan Ramsower '74, MSEco '76, Baylor's vice president for finance and
administration. "During the latter part of the 1990s, the entire higher
education industry began to change and began to offer scholarships that
were targeted toward attracting the highest quality students to enroll.
The word 'scholarship' should be explained, because in these cases
there is no endowment behind the scholarships. Instead, we simply
reduce the price of tuition to make Baylor more attractive for
high-quality students to attend. It's the way, during the last decade,
that universities have been attracting students who have high SAT or
ACT test scores and who graduate at the top of their high school class."
Ramsower says tuition discounting became more prominent in Baylor's
scholarship mix when the university went to a flat tuition rate in
2002-03. "The average discount these days is around 35 percent
nationwide, and that's pretty much where we are as well," he says.
Baylor is offering a combination of merit and need-based aid to help as
many students as possible succeed. "We're not just looking for
students," Diaz says. "We are looking for graduates."
The Use of Tuition
Ramsower acknowledged that an increase in faculty numbers has had an
impact on Baylor's tuition level, but he notes that it has provided
more teachers for students. While the faculty numbered 697 in the fall
of 2001, there were 913 faculty members in the fall of 2007—although
enrollment for those two semesters was virtually the same. "When the Lariat
asks me, 'Is tuition always going to go up?' I have to ask back, 'Are
faculty and staff salaries always going to go up?' They don't have to,
but it sure is painful when you say, 'No raises this year.' The great
faculty we have hired have also allowed Baylor to expand our
undergraduate education in both breadth of programs and depth of
knowledge."
These days, Baylor is relying more heavily than before on tuition
income to pay those costs, according to the "Baylor Trends" document
prepared by Baylor's Office of Institutional Research and Testing. More
than 75 percent of Baylor's total revenue came from tuition and fees
during the 2006-07 fiscal year. That's up from about 66 percent in
2000-01. At the same time, the percentage of funding from every other
source went down during that span of time—with the exception of
investment income, which remained the same.
Baylor's overall tuition rate is affected by many factors, Ramsower
says. Each year, his staff creates a number of scenarios to present to
the Baylor Board of Regents, which officially sets tuition rates.
"Underlying all of our annual budget planning and tuition planning is a
long-term financial model," Ramsower says. "It's a pretty complicated
model that stretches out over ten years and makes assumptions about
tuition, endowment earnings, and other revenue sources, as well as
growth in faculty and staff costs, computer costs, and other various
expenditures. It also takes into account the future impact of
commitments we might make today, such as the need to replace a
supercomputer in five years."
This long-term model, he explains, is based on Baylor's long-term
goals—as outlined in Baylor 2012. And several components of that plan,
particularly the benefits of added faculty and additional faculty
support, have higher costs associated with them. "Certainly to have
recently moved to become a research university has required
expenditures that would not have been required otherwise," he says. In
some disciplines, he says, grant dollars will come in to pay for
research. "But there is generally an incubator phase before you get to
that level," he notes. "Particularly in the sciences, there are some
initial costs to the university in starting up labs and purchasing
equipment."
In addition, Ramsower says, "Growing graduate programs provides less
tuition and requires more expenditures than undergraduate programs
because graduate students receive stipends and tuition scholarships.
However, graduate students provide many valuable services to the
university at rates that are often below market."
Awarding merit scholarships also lowers net tuition revenues, Ramsower
says. "A portion of a tuition increase is also not realized because we
discount the tuition for high-quality students. We think in terms of
net tuition revenue, which is tuition after discounting," he says.
The recent addition of world-class facilities—such as the Baylor
Sciences Building—represents another addition to Baylor's costs,
Ramsower notes. And it's not just the cost of constructing the
building. "Any building brings with it infrastructure costs, new
utility costs, new maintenance costs, new operating costs—even if
someone donates the building," he says.
"People have a right to criticize the strategic direction of the
university," he says. "They have the right to say that it wouldn't be
the way they'd do it, but it is the way we're doing it. I feel very
good about the direction Baylor is taking, and I agree with the
aspirations of this administration; that's the Baylor I would like to
see. I have a First Families of Baylor plaque on my wall, and I think
all those past generations—going back to Ethel Lattimore Higginbotham,
who was in the first class of women at Baylor—would be very proud of
what we have done and where we're going."
Cost Drivers
Of course, escalating tuition is not unique to Baylor. But that knowledge doesn't make it any easier to pay the bills.
Why does college cost so much? "With the nature of higher education,
particularly the residential, classroom-based higher education that
Baylor values, it's hard to get productivity increases," Ramsower says.
"You could increase the size of classes or have graduate students teach
more undergraduate classes, but that wouldn’t be a Baylor education."
Ramsower observes that many schools are cutting costs by offering
distance learning and computer-based classes—but again, he says, that's
also not what a residential Baylor education is about. "We certainly
make maximal use of technology to support our classroom education, and
we always strive to hold down operational costs," he says. "But the
benefits of small, personalized classes taught by professors instead of
graduate students is the hallmark of Baylor. Outstanding teaching will
always be the priority."
John Barry, Baylor's vice president for marketing and communications,
says the expectations of prospective students and their families also
play a role in rising costs. "It's a false dichotomy to look at what it
cost to go to a certain college or university twenty years ago and
compare that to what it costs at the same university today, because the
nature of the university experience and the services that are provided
have changed so much during that time," he says. "You can't look at
just the cost side without looking at how the product has changed."
What families are getting for the money today is something very
different, Barry says. "In the olden days, you had Sloppy Joe night on
Tuesdays in the dining hall, and Sloppy Joe was what you got," he says.
"Now you're supporting mall-style food courts. When I was in school,
you had the gym, and the gym was what you got. Now you have a full
exercise recreation facility that includes all kinds of equipment,
services, and amenities like rock-climbing walls and customized
swimming pools. We're also staffing and paying for a range of new
initiatives, such as in-residence faculty, student success centers, and
24/7 public safety organizations—to name just a few. Students and their
families expect and appreciate services of this type, but they have
cost implications."
Dr. Richard Vedder, distinguished professor of economics at Ohio
University and a member of the Spellings Commission, says there are
lots of reasons that college costs continue to rise and that
productivity and efficiency issues are a big part of why higher
education is expensive nationwide. "There are a dozen or so reasons
that costs have gone up," says Vedder, who's written a book on the
topic. "A very important one is that a lot of the higher education
bills are paid by a third party—by the government through grants or by
philanthropists who fund scholarships. When someone else pays the
bills, the customer isn't as sensitive to the price."
Another cost driver, Vedder notes, is that universities "have no clear
incentives to cut costs like a private company does." Unlike a private
company, there's no profit margin or stock price to boost, he says.
"The chair of a department probably views his or her role to increase
the budget and add as much faculty as possible."
And tuition discounting has certainly contributed to the rise in
sticker price, he says. "Schools are trying to buy some good students
to raise their U.S. News ranking, so they give those students a deal," he says. "If a school's primary goal is prestige and to raise rankings in U.S. News and World Report
every year, the way you do that is to get the best students you can and
to turn a lot of them down, because that looks good and means you're
more selective. And you hire a lot of faculty in relation to the number
of students, because that's a factor. In short, you spend quite a bit
of money."
But Vedder says that this system is reaching a saturation point, as
evidenced by recent actions taken by Harvard University and other
high-ranking schools regarding tuition. In December, Harvard announced
a new policy whereby families making between $120,000 and $180,000 in
income will pay no more than 10 percent of their income on tuition at
the school, and it will charge its lowest-income students nothing. The
Ivy League institution has totally eliminated loans from student aid
packages. At Stanford University, families making below a certain
income will pay nothing in educational costs. Other schools—including
the University of Pennsylvania, Pomona College, Swarthmore College, and
Davidson College—have eliminated loans from aid packages and tried to
replace them with grants.
Elite schools, especially those with enormous endowments, are
responding to government pressure, like the report from the Spellings
Commission, Vedder says. School officials fear that the government will
step in with regulations on how much endowment they should be spending
and other cost regulations, he notes. "My opinion is that they're doing
this to head off legislation," he says. He also believes that the
actions of these schools will eventually "ripple down" to more
"typical" schools like Baylor.
Vedder believes that institutions like Baylor will begin to find that
continuing to raise tuition is a problem. "A lot of people are getting
to a threshold," he says. "It's one thing to raise tuition to $20,000
or $22,000, but when you get to $40,000, those numbers are very
shocking to all but the very wealthy. People are starting to say, 'No,
we can't do it.' The old answer was borrowing the money, but people are
getting scared of loans, and lenders are getting scared to lend to
anyone."
He also noted that the gap between earning potential for high school
graduates and college graduates has ceased to grow. "That means the
payoff for college in terms of vocational success is staying about the
same, but the cost of getting that ticket to vocational success is
getting more expensive, so the rate of return on the investment is
starting to fall," he says. "Therefore, you can't just keep jacking up
the price or people are going to start looking at alternatives—state
colleges, community colleges, the Internet."
Feeling the Pinch?
While Baylor's retention and graduation rates have been pretty steady
since the incoming freshman class of twenty years ago, other numbers
that administrators are closely monitoring have soared. A record number
of prospective students applied for the fall 2007 freshman
class—26,514, with an acceptance rate of 44 percent. Last fall Baylor
enjoyed the second highest overall enrollment in school history—14,174.
In addition, average SAT scores are on the rise, with the fall 2007
freshman class sporting a record-breaking average of 1218, an increase
of nearly forty points over the past five years. In addition, the 2007
freshman class increased its minority enrollment, hitting the 29
percent mark.
While Baylor officials say they are trying to find the perfect mix of
freshmen—those who can handle Baylor both academically and
financially—it's hard to tell if anyone is getting cut out of the mix.
The only data on student family income is provided by the FAFSA, and
about 40 percent of Baylor undergraduates don't submit that document—an
indication that those students and their parents believe their income
level is too high to receive need-based aid.
For those who do submit the FAFSA, the average family income number has
risen only slightly—roughly in keeping with the inflation rate—and now
stands at $71,000, according to Ramsower. And Baylor officials say they
don't believe Baylor has any gaps in income groups represented on
campus. "I continue to see a gamut of students, from those who have a
zero expected family contribution to those who pay the full price,"
Diaz says.
Nevertheless, many alumni—especially parents of prospective
students—worry that recent increases in tuition have made Baylor less
affordable for middle-class families. In the mid-1990s, according to
Baylor press releases, the school consistently ranked high in the
nation for "Best College Values" in U.S. News and World Report. And Baylor just picked up a "best value" nod from Kiplinger's Personal Finance,
coming in at thirty-eighth on its list of fifty private universities,
based on academic quality and affordability. Baylor was second lowest
in total cost among those schools.
Vedder and Baylor economist Dr. Kent Gilbreath share a concern about
the upper-middle class—those in the $60,000 to $70,000 income range—and
how they will afford college for their children. That's especially an
issue at Baylor, Gilbreath says, because it affects Baylor's
traditional customer. "Tuition increases over the past several years
have made it increasingly difficult for Baylor's traditional
middle-class families to afford to send their children to Baylor," he
asserts.
Gilbreath led the economic team for a "Societal Trends Committee"
appointed by Baylor President John Lilley. In March 2007, the committee
presented its findings and reported that economic trends in general
bode well for Baylor's future because of the prediction of continued
growth in personal income. But, they also said, "Barring changes in
Baylor's tuition policies, the university will need to increasingly
look toward students from wealthier families to fund the university's
ambitious academic goals. The fundamental reality is that, unless there
is a sharp increase in Baylor's endowment for providing scholarships or
unless new, creative tuition financing initiatives are developed,
lower-income students will constitute a shrinking proportion of
Baylor’s student body."
The committee also reported that the movement of the student body to
reflect greater wealth "presents a disturbing challenge to the
egalitarian traditions of Baylor's historical Texas Baptist
constituency."
Helping Students Pay
Using the Baylor's online Financial Aid Calculator, it's easy to see
how hard it would be to afford college on a middle-class income.
Consider John and Lisa, our imaginary couple. Their family income is
$67,000, and they have two students in college. With cash and savings
(not including retirement) of $20,000, net worth of investments (not
including their home) at $50,000, and no student income—but cash and
investments of $31,000 for the student—their expected family
contribution is $12,723.
Their son made a 580 on the math section of the SAT, a 590 on the
verbal, and he ranked twenty-fifth in his high school class of three
hundred. That earned him a Provost's Gold Scholarship of $7,000 per
year. He was also awarded $8,240 in need-based gift aid for a total of
$15,240 per year in gift aid. With student employment and $3,500 in
subsidized loans for his first year, his total aid package is $21,390.
But the 2008-09 estimate for total costs at Baylor tops $40,000, so
John and Lisa still need to come up with nearly $19,000 per year to pay
for their son to attend Baylor. That's significantly higher than the
$12,723 the government estimates they can afford. And don't forget,
they have another college student. It's going to take all of their
savings and more loans—plus a heck of a summer job—for John and Lisa's
son to attend Baylor.
Ramsower says, "It's critically important to us and a major goal that
the socioeconomic composition of the Baylor student body should not
change from what it was, that the increase in tuition would not create
the charge of an elitist university, and that our profile would not be
altered. At the same time, we're trying to build a more ethnically
diverse student body, and we're achieving that."
But Ramsower acknowledges that the total cost of attending Baylor has
risen with the rate of tuition. "In 2001, those who had financial need
had an average of $14,560 of total need, which includes tuition, fees,
room, board, books, and other miscellaneous living expenses," he says.
"By this fall, that average need had gone to $25,731, which is an
increase of 10 percent per year. But that's the need before their aid.
During this same time period, 2001 to 2007, tuition discounts and
scholarships rose more than 30 percent per year."
After the awarding of discounts, scholarships, work study, and
low-interest federal and state grants and subsidized loans like the
Pell Grant, Ramsower says, the average amount that students and their
parents actually had to pay to attend Baylor was $4,000 in 2001 and
$7,000 this past fall. That increase is only a little higher than
inflation, he adds. "Our goal is to raise enough endowed scholarships
to cover the $7,000 average, out-of-pocket need," Ramsower notes.
That's what the University of Notre Dame does. Since 2001, Notre Dame
has had a policy of supplying aid to meet 100 percent of a student's
need as determined by the FAFSA. The school does not offer merit
scholarships "to lure exceptional students into the mix," according to
its alumni magazine. But if a family fills out the federal forms and
pays its expected contribution, Notre Dame will help them find the
rest.
Baylor officials say the best way to help students of all
socio-economic backgrounds attend Baylor is to continue to build the
endowment—a major goal of Baylor 2012, but one that has been more
elusive than others. After all, a large endowment is what has allowed
schools like Harvard and Stanford to make the moves they've made.
Baylor's endowment topped $1 billion last year, and the goal of Baylor
2012 is to reach $2 billion.
"A critical focus of our upcoming fundraising campaign is growth in the
number of endowed, need-based student scholarships," President Lilley
says. "We believe in the profound value of a Baylor education, and we
want to make a Baylor degree possible for all of those students and
families who share our passion."
Ramsower says that the administration's goal is to cover all the costs
a student incurs by attending Baylor, beyond his or her family's
expected financial contribution based on combined family income. "The
first endowment dollars, in my mind, would go to the lower-level
incomes to cover their full cost of attendance," he says. And when more
scholarships are available through endowment, Baylor will rely less on
tuition discounts, he says. "Then those tuition discount dollars can go
back to provide things, from faculty salaries to growth in strategic
areas, without having to rely as heavily on tuition. It's a win-win for
everybody."
Student Feedback
In the meantime, Baylor officials believe that the university still
offers a unique experience—a top research university with a Protestant
tradition—at a reasonable price and will continue to attract students.
And, while higher education experts like Vedder claim it's hard to
measure outcomes for universities, Baylor officials believe the
university's goals are clear. Those administrators say they are doing
their best to build the endowment and offer enough scholarships to
bring the price within reach of most students, but they acknowledge
that they have a long way to go to raise enough endowment to make
Baylor affordable for everyone who would like to come.
It's a cold, hard fact that colleges nearly everywhere, including
Baylor, cost a lot. The more revealing question may be whether or not
Baylor is worth the extra money and effort it takes to attend. Do
students think they are getting a good educational value? According to
results of surveys of current students, the answer is a strong yes.
In a survey administered by Baylor during summer orientation, nearly 91
percent of incoming freshmen said Baylor's educational value was
"somewhat" or "very" important to them in making a decision to attend
Baylor. And more than 46 percent said Baylor offered them more
merit-based financial support than other universities at which they
were accepted.
First-year students also responded positively about their Baylor
experience in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), which
since 2000 has surveyed students about their involvement in practices
considered linked to learning. The survey assesses these five
categories: level of academic challenge, active and collaborative
learning, student-faculty interaction, enriching educational
experiences, and supportive campus environment. Baylor students
responded positively more often than the national average at other
universities categorized as "high research."
The NSSE also surveys seniors, who had similarly positive things to say in the survey, which was reported by USA Today
in November 2007. Seniors ranked most of their experiences even higher
than the freshmen did, and answers from Baylor seniors were above the
average at other universities categorized as "high research" in every
category.
On the NSSE survey, Baylor excelled especially at two questions that
provide an overview of students' entire college experience. When asked,
"How would you evaluate your entire educational experience at this
institution?" 50 percent of freshmen and nearly 60 percent of seniors
responded "excellent." That compares to averages of around 40 percent
at what Baylor calls "peers with similar characteristics," including
BYU, Pepperdine, Oral Roberts, and Seton Hall. Averages at peer
research institutions, including Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, and Purdue,
were 30 percent. And when asked if they would go to the same
institution if they could start all over again, nearly 60 percent of
Baylor's surveyed students said "definitely yes," versus under half at
peer schools and barely 40 percent at peer research universities.
The students we met earlier in the story, even those who have struggled
to pay for Baylor, believe their educational dollar is well spent at
the university.
"It's very much worth it if you can afford it or if you'll have a
profession where you can pay back your loans," says Chris Porter, now a
UNT student. "I really liked the environment. Baylor's a top-notch
university, and they're trying to make it even more so."
Fallon Rice, who will graduate from Baylor with a heavy debt to repay,
says that she thinks paying her own way has made her more appreciative
of her Baylor education. "I do love Baylor," she says. "I love the
experience—you get what you pay for." Rice says that, because she
realizes the value of her education, she's trying to get the most out
of it—keeping her GPA high, participating in many activities, joining a
lot of organizations. "If I had it made, maybe I'd be satisfied with a
3.5, but I want to get the most value I can."
When Gary Guadagnolo was deciding where to go to college, he also
considered TCU, SMU, and A&M but quickly realized that Baylor was
right for him. "All the pieces fell into place," he says. "I could tell
Baylor was the place for me." So it was worth it to research the
scholarships, fill out the applications, and write the essays to make
it possible, he says.
"When you have a private school like Baylor, you know the price is
going to be higher," he says. "But I would say that a majority of my
classes have been with less then fifteen people, especially in the
upper levels. It's worth it to be in an environment where learning
really does flourish and the professors are interested in you and know
you by name. One of the biggest parts of a Baylor education is that it
takes place outside of the classroom as well as inside, with
opportunities for leadership and involvement. Hands down, the value of
a Baylor education has been great."
Do you have something to say about the price of Baylor's tuition or the value of a Baylor degree? Send your comments to the Baylor Line at baylorline@bayloralumni.com. We look forward to sharing your views with fellow Baylor alumni and friends.
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