Getting a degree from TCU keeps getting more expensive. Chancellor Victor Boschini recently announced a 4.9 percent tuition increase for the 2017-2018 school year. This is on top of increases of nearly 10 percent over the past two years. Thank goodness this is a Christian university, or students might start drinking hard right about now.
Boschini told the student blog TCU 360 that the latest tuition increase is intended to “meet the needs” of faculty and students. Somebody has to pay for the services and amenities on campus, he said.
That somebody is students and their parents, who are already paying for services and amenities through the $42,000 yearly tuition and additional fees. That money also helps cover Boschini’s $537,866 salary, while the football coach is just barely managing to feed himself on $3.9 million a year.
We’ve all heard the career prognostications for soon-to-be graduates: “Everything sucks, jobs are few, and you’re going to be living off ramen noodles for the rest of your adult life.”
A recent Wall Street Journal report said that college students in the class of 2016 who received financial aid will have the highest level of debt yet, at about $37,000.
In a letter sent to students and parents recently, Boschini assured them new merit-based scholarship offerings will be adjusted to reflect the increased tuition. These are scholarships based on academics, not ultra-important things like how well a student can kick or throw a ball. However, this increased scholarship funding applies only to students earning a scholarship for the first time – incoming students, for example. This leaves current students trying to cover the additional 4.9 percent by paying out of pocket or looking for new government funding sources. We don’t know how that will work out for the average TCU student, but here’s a hint: If the government knows you super-size your Happy Meals, you won’t get squat.
How will this all end? If bachelor’s degrees at TCU become more expensive and insignificant while student debt continues to rise and financial aid become harder to get, it’s only a matter of time before students start looking at other colleges.
That’s Service!
A few of us Fort Worth Weekly folks piled into a car recently to drive somewhere to do important journalism stuff when we were almost killed in a tragic accident. Well, we were almost hit by a fast-moving vehicle. Actually, the car wasn’t moving that fast. But, anyway, it was close.
We were eastbound on Bristol Road when we came to the stop sign at University Drive. We looked to our left to check for oncoming traffic, but a large, orange, diamond-shaped construction sign blocked our view. We pulled forward to see around the sign and soon found ourselves sticking out into traffic with a line of cars bearing down on us. We tried to back up our vehicle to get out of the way, but the car behind us had pulled up, making it impossible to go backward. An oncoming car came to a quick stop to keep from hitting us, and the woman behind the wheel mouthed some words in our direction. We’re pretty sure she wasn’t saying, “Happy holidays!”
The driver of our vehicle lost his mind.
“Who in their right mind puts a big sign next to an intersection and blocks the view of motorists?” he yelled.
The all-important sign that nearly killed us – and God knows how many other motorists – was placed there to warn southbound University Drive motorists about road construction ahead. Except that no construction work was being done. The sign’s only apparent purpose was to block views of motorists and almost kill people.
One of our reporters called City Hall to complain. A city spokesperson said that the construction company had completed the roadwork and forgotten to remove the sign. Within a couple of hours of complaining to the city, the sign was gone. Bravo to the Transportation and Public Works Department for being so quick to respond.
Cabo grande is still being listed in EATS, but it had been closed for many months. I would hate for newcomers to downtown fort worth to be misle