A new tuition increase for students was approved Friday at the winter meeting of the Board of Trustees for the 2006-2007 academic year.The current tuition is $21,280, but students taking 12-18 hours will pay a combined tuition and fee of $22,980, Tracy Syler-Jones, assistant vice chancellor for marketing and communications, said in an e-mail.

Chancellor Victor Boschini said increasing tuition ensures a good education without giving up the service the student body wants.

“I never like to increase tuition; I agonize over that,” Boschini said. “But I don’t find within the student body a call for cutting services.”

Syler-Jones said the decision to increase tuition was based on how TCU ranks among other universities.

“Every year the Trustees are informed about institutions comparing to TCU,” Syler-Jones said. “The Trustees look at the goals of the university that tie back to Vision in Action.”

The Vision in Action program, announced in 2003, is a plan for TCU to become a more prominent private university, according to the program’s Web site, www.via.tcu.edu. Plans to renovate the Student Center and build four residential halls and a university union began in November of 2005, Syler-Jones said.

The tuition increase also includes an 8 percent increase in financial aid that will amount to $4 million for students, said Syler-Jones.

Syler-Jones said the money from the increase will also help hire more faculty.

“It is a continuing context in which to learn,” Syler-Jones said. “We are looking to hopefully hire 17 new full-time faculty.”

Syler-Jones said Boschini has taken the students into account.

“When the chancellor arrived on campus, one of his goals was to listen to the campus,” Syler-Jones said.

Mike Scott, director of Scholarships and Financial Aid, could not be reached for comment.