A tuition increase by 8 percent for the 2007-2008 academic school year was approved by the board of trustees on Friday. The board also approved a two-year residential requirement for all freshmen and sophomores to live on campus beginning fall 2007.Chancellor Victor Boschini said a majority of the tuition increase will go toward bringing the student faculty ratio down to 13 to 1.

Tuition and fees for full-time undergraduate students will be raised from $22,980 to $24,820.

“It’s never easy to raise tuition, but overall, the increase will be to maintain quality of education at TCU,” Boschini said.

The increase will also help pay for health care benefits for faculty and staff, as well as utilities, Boschini said.

Jace Thompson, SGA vice president and junior accounting major, said he’s never glad to see a tuition increase and thinks there are other avenues to be presented, such as increasing scholarships along with tuition. Thompson sat in the meeting as a student representative for Intercom, a panel of students who present student perspectives to the board.

“Hopefully, students will be able to benefit from a percentage increase in scholarship money, since tuition is increasing,” Thompson said.

Thompson also said he agreed it is important for the student-faculty ratio to be lowered.

“Most of my business classes are large,” Thompson said. “It’s important to achieve this ratio for all classes across the board.”

In addition to the tuition increase in the 2007-2008 school year, TCU will require all freshmen and sophomores to live on campus.

“We are convinced that it will help students, and we have seen the results of numerous studies based on this requirement,” Boschini said.

Craig Allen, director of Residential Services, said the plans for housing requirements and expansion are in line with TCU’s Vision in Action plan, which began in 2003.

“These plans will help TCU return to its residential heritage,” Allen said.

Construction on two of the new residential halls will be completed by next fall, Allen said. The two others will be completed in the spring of 2008, he said.

The completion of the four residence halls will provide additional housing, which will increase the sense of community on campus, Allen said.

Thompson said he would rather see students wanting to live on campus as opposed to requiring students to live on campus.