TCU tuition to increase in upcoming year

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TCU’s tuition increases almost every year. In the past decade, TCU tuition rose 56% or by $20,630. (Heesoo Yang/Staff Photographer)

By Hope Crockett, Staff Writer
Published Mar 27, 2023

TCU students will pay over $3,000 more in the 2023-2024 academic school year after trustees approved a 6% tuition hike at this month’s board meeting. 

Mary Couts Burnett Library at Texas Christian University on August 21, 2020. COVID-19 halted the tuition increase at TCU for the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years. (Heesoo Yang/Staff Photographer)

Need-based aid will increase by at least 6% as well for students who qualify. 

Fall tuition will be $57,130 for full-time undergraduates, up from $53,890. 

At the October town hall, Chancellor Victor Boschini predicted the increase.

“We always had an increase in tuition every year except for the last (2020-2021 and 2021-2022), and what I’m saying is that we all want more each year and that’s the problem,” Chancellor Boschini said.

In the past decade, TCU tuition rose by 56% or $20,630, from $36,500 in 2013 to $57,130 for the 2023-24 academic year. 

While the undergraduate price will now be $57,130, that does not include other economic factors that are required to attend. According to TCU Undergraduate Admissions, the increase will result in the total estimated direct cost for fall and spring as $72,370 for the upcoming school year. 

Chancellor Boschini commented on the tuition increasing in 2019, as well as future tuition costs.

“Rolling out into the future, we probably can’t maintain that high of a tuition increase every year…it’s already too high,” the Chancellor said. “It can’t be $70,000 to go to TCU; that’s just not realistic.”  

“TCU's tuition was already a stretch for my family and I to afford my first year here," said Hannah Douglas, a sophomore communications major. "We made the decision to accept TCU's acceptance based on the tuition rate at the time. The tuition at the time of your acceptance should be the same for all four years. To implement a bit of fairness, a 6% increase of merit-based scholarships too.”

According to the U.S. News, the average cost of tuition and fees to attend a private college for the 2022-2023 school year is $39,723, compared to $10,423 for a ranked public college.

While an institution like Princeton University, which is currently the number one ranked university in the nation, advertised a sticker price of $56,010 for the 2022-2023 school year, TCU, ranked number 89, costs more than Princeton in the upcoming 2023-2024 school year.