Following last week’s board of trustees meeting, an increase of $9.4 million will be allotted for TCU employee compensation during the 2007-2008 fiscal year. The $9.4 million is part of the $315 million budget approval that was passed during the meeting. The money came from tuition and fees, $1.1 billion endowment and various auxiliary donations.Moreover, a portion of that money would go toward the addition of 16 new faculty members on campus. This addition of faculty will continue keeping the student-faculty ratio down so as to maintain having decent student-faculty relations.

With an increase in money and faculty members, this will put faculty in a position to live up to their earnings.

If they take this raise and new compensation, it will be up to the faculty and professors to reflect this money through their work in the classroom.

The smaller class sizes give the ability to have a give-and-take discussion and forum-style lecture with professors. With the exception of a few introductory courses where lecture halls are filled, the faculty are aware of who the students are and what they are doing.

This gives a family appeal to the campus that prides itself on being “not too big and not too small.”

Additionally, a $6.4 million increase to financial aid came through during the meeting.

Benefits such as these could be used to improve the TCU community at large, but time will be the judge of whether these financial decisions will be worthwhile in the coming months and years for students and alumni.

Sports editor Marcus Murphree for the editorial board.