From the controversy over "Brokeback Mountain" to the gritty realism of "Good Night, and Good Luck," it was a strong year for drama. Of the five films nominated for Best Picture, four were made outside...

At any level of basketball, who would you most want to dunk on?Shaquille O'Neal.

Does that mean you think you could?

You said if I could!

Everybody wants to be the one to take the big shot; if you had to choose one player to take the big shot besides you, who would it be?

Kobe Bryant.

What do you think about his 81 points (against the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 22)?

That's insane.

Think you can do it?

Philosophy students attending a theater event. Art students mingling in the Greek. Biology and business majors getting together.Sounds crazy, huh?

It doesn't have to be.

As shown by the recent success of the first annual Funkytown Stompdown step show competition, coprogramming can be an excellent way to get seemingly disparate groups to mingle on campus.

Coprogramming occurs when different organizations join together to put on an event or to reach a common goal. For the step show, these two groups were Alpha Phi Alpha and Zeta Tau Alpha.

Some students are saying that a TCU Theatre presentation portraying acts of sexual assault between two people on a date is too shocking, but the play's director said viewers are supposed to leave shocked."That's exactly what we want," said Sarah Elizondo, director of Assault Prevention Theatre.

Elizondo, a sophomore theater major, said the play is deliberately shocking to prepare students for what sexual assault really entails.

Each year, Becky Ramirez's student loans grow. Even though her tuition payments steadily increase, Ramirez's financial aid has remained stagnant since she was accepted to TCU. She hasn't always been certain that she could stay."I've almost left a few times," she said.

Ramirez, a senior biology major, said TCU's cost, which has increased by almost $12,000 since 2000, and will go up by $1,700 for the 2006-2007 academic year, is what keeps some applicants from deciding to choose TCU.

Money is just one piece of the puzzle.

A diverse campus

TCU is limited in terms of how much money it may award students, Scott said.He said he must look at socioeconomic status and whether the student is from Texas or another state - not just if the student is a minority.

Scott said that cost is generally a top priority when choosing a school.

The office of scholarships and financial aid is trying to let prospective students know of their possibility to afford TCU before they apply, he said.

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.

With a retention rate of 53.57 percent from last semester's House of Representatives to this semester, Student Government Association members said they hope to improve the body's reputation and in turn, retention by changing the focus from internal issues to student concerns."Students don't want to see SGA doing things for SGA - they want to see them doing things for students," said Tori Hutchens, chairwoman of elections and regulations.

Although she said there is only so much SGA can do to get people to participate; it's all cyclical.

Projected increases to the TCU budget will take into account rising costs in tuition, housing, health insurance, utilities and athletics, the vice chancellor for finance and administration said Tuesday.Vice Chancellor Brian Gutierrez said at a Staff Assembly meeting that while TCU currently remains under the national trend line for increasing tuition costs at four-year private universities, an anticipated rise in tuition would cause the university to meet the national average by 2007.