Good morning.  I am Victor Boschini, chancellor of Texas Christian University.  I want to take this opportunity to welcome you today.

I know that many of you are concerned about the competitive nature of the college admission process.  Without a doubt, getting into the college or university of your choice can seem daunting. But what I want to emphasize today is the importance of choosing the right college for you.  Once you’ve overcome this challenge, many of the competitive issues will fade away.

"We are experiencing the largest wave of graduating high-school seniors to apply to college in the history of the United States — 3.3 million of them.” New York Times journalist Lisa Belkin describes this as a “climb that has been making college admissions a cutthroat ordeal for more than a decade.” ¹

Ms. Belkin, the mother of one of those students notes: “I have always seen it as my job … as a parent to give my children the best educational launch in life that I can. I have long believed that means going to the ‘best’ school that will have them. But I am beginning to wonder…

“Does a $50,000 a year education really buy a better life than a $12,000 a year education? Or does it buy a fancier sticker for the car?” ²

According to The Wall Street Journal, which examined the alma maters of top business leaders, the answer is no. “Getting to the corner office has more to do with leadership talent and a drive for success than it does with having an undergraduate degree from a prestigious university,” the Journal says.

“At state and lesser-known schools, where many were the first in their families to attend college, [these top executives] sought challenges and mixed with students from diverse backgrounds — an experience that helped them later in their corporate climbs.” ³

There are some 4,300 colleges and universities in the United States. There are research universities and private liberal arts colleges. Small public colleges and massive state systems.  Community colleges, proprietary schools and more. ⁴

You must choose one. The stakes involved in your decision are high.  You will be investing two, four or more years of your life.   And college will be one of the most significant financial investments your family will ever make.  But you don’t have to go to an Ivy League school or elite state university to get a superb education and to be successful.

So…  two years or four?   Close to home or far away?  Public or private?  These are just a few of the questions you’ll have to answer.   I’d like to recommend two free, easily accessible resources to help you with your decision.

The first is collegeboard.com.  It has a feature called “Match Maker.”  Think of it as the college applicant’s E-Harmony.   You will answer a number of questions online, from type of school to cost to the availability of your planned major.  Then you’ll click “submit” and have a college list. ⁵ What is more important than the list itself are the questions and the process you’ll go through to answer them.

The second resource is the U-CAN-network.com.  To find it, just type the letter U, hyphen, c-a-n into Google. What you’ll get is the chance to browse hundreds of private college and university profiles. You can find all kinds of facts, from what percentage of students graduate from a school in four years to where they come from to the availability of internships.  Then you can sort the schools depending on what’s important to you. ⁶

Once you’ve answered the questions that will set your course in your college search, then talk to people — and not just your friends.  Actually visit campuses you’re interested in — that’s how you’ll get a sense of what a school is really like.  Go to the schools’ Web sites.  It’s your education, your life and your responsibility to make good choices. ⁷

I’d like to offer my own quick list of do’s and don’ts in applying to college.

1. Do start early. 
1. Get your college applications in by Thanksgiving of your senior year.
2. Then get your FASFA form in as soon as possible, after Jan. 1 of your senior year.  (More about this later.)8
2. Don’t send out too many applications.  There’s a trend of students applying to a myriad of schools.  It's time-consuming, expensive and, if you narrow your search, unnecessary. ⁹
3. Don’t make a decision based solely on the published price of a school.  You may find out that one with higher tuition may in fact be less expensive for you to attend when financial aid and all expenses are factored in. TCU is a private university, and lots of people think only rich kids go there.  So you’ll probably be surprised to learn that 75 percent of our students receive some kind of financial aid.
4. If you follow these steps, don’t lose hope!  Most colleges don’t factor in the ability to pay in their acceptance process.  We really want you, and will do what we can to make the education of your dreams possible. For example, TCU has increased financial aid for next year by 5 percent, on top of this year’s 18 percent increase, and has set aside an extra $350,000 this year to help students weather the financial downturn. ¹⁰

Now back to that all-important FAFSA form. Those initials stand for Free Application for Federal Student Aid. ¹¹   Most schools use the FAFSA to determine eligibility for federal, state and institutionally funded grants, loans and work-study programs.  So — for most people — the FAFSA form is your key to the door of a college education. ¹²

I’ve also been asked to discuss the challenges faced now by higher education.

This is a period when all of us navigate in extremely challenging waters that change from day to day.  Including colleges and universities. We must compete for resources, students and reputation, not only with the 4,300 accredited, degree-granting colleges and universities in this country, but also with institutions across the globe… other not-for-profit universities and a burgeoning number of for-profit schools — all those different kinds of institutions I suggested you consider in your college search.

At the same time, government resources — particularly state resources — have become increasingly limited.  That’s why you’ve seen such a dramatic increase in tuition at our state’s public universities.

However, there’s some very good news for students and their families as a result of the recently passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — also known as the stimulus package.  For example, Pell Grants will increase.  In addition, $200 million has been set aside for community service in work-study. ¹³  A part of the Federal Student Financial Assistance Program, work-study provides part-time employment for students who need income to help meet education costs.

President Obama’s budget proposal includes a new five-year, $2.5 billion Access and Completion Incentive Fund to support innovative federal/state partnerships to help low-income students to succeed and complete their college education. The budget proposes to make permanent the $2,500 American Opportunity Tax Credit created in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. ¹⁴

I don’t have to tell you that tuition at both public and private universities has been rising.  Student loans may be more expensive and less accessible. Families are faced with plunging home values.

That’s why lawmakers report that the top four issues mentioned in town hall meetings across the country are the economy, healthcare, the war — and college costs. ¹⁵
The marketplace is telling us that it’s time to act aggressively on affordability.  And we are. 

From my work with the NAICU — that’s the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities — I’ve learned that campuses around the nation are trying to become more affordable with tuition cuts and freezes; tuition that’s guaranteed not to increase while a student is enrolled; and accelerated degree programs that let a student earn a four-year degree in three years. ¹⁶  

You might be surprised to know that as high as tuition is, it doesn’t pay the full cost of a college education.  For example, at TCU tuition covers about 80 percent of the true cost of a student’s education. ¹⁷ Where does the other 20 percent come from? At private schools it comes predominantly from earnings on endowments and from fund raising.  Public schools depend on these resources, as well as money from the states.

But as I mentioned before, colleges and universities are dealing with the same challenges as our students and parents.   We’re watching our endowments shrink.  (Endowments are like very large savings accounts that provide income for university budgets.)  Fund raising is slowing down, and revenue from the states is drying up.  So it is a tremendous balancing act to maintain and expand the strategies we’ve implemented to offset tuition. ¹⁸

When we look at tuition costs, we must also consider value.  In an American Council on Education survey, alumni overwhelmingly give their colleges high marks, with 92 percent believing their college education was worth the time and money invested.   When asked if colleges charge a fair price, a majority — 71 percent — believe their own college or university did. However when the same question was asked about colleges in general, 65 percent respond no. But is perception reality? ¹⁹

Actually, about 56 percent of students enrolled at four-year colleges or universities attend institutions that charge tuition and fees of less than $9,000 per year, according to the College Board. Only about 9 percent of all students attend colleges with tuition and fees totaling $33,000 or higher per year. ²⁰

I’d like to add another note here.   Also according to polls, Americans understand that higher education benefits the thousands of students who graduate every year. But as Mark Yudof, the former chancellor of the University of Texas System who now heads the University of California, observes, “They don’t always appreciate that — regardless of age, occupation or educational status — we all profit from the country’s higher education institutions. Many Americans don’t realize that higher education institutions benefit the nation through healthcare, research, economic development and innovations in K-12 education.” ²¹

“Well-educated citizens are crucial to America’s ability to confront the many challenges we’re facing today,” according to the American Council on Education.  “Our standard of living and America’s place in the world; the survival of our free, democratic society; the quality of life in our communities; the competitive strength of our economy; our very future — this all will depend on Americans who are better and more fully educated than ever before.

And American higher education will not be able to do the job that our country wants and needs without strong, consistent public support.” ²²

¹ Lisa Belkin, “Paying for College: What Now?” New York Times, October 16, 2008

² Belkin

³ “Any College Will Do: Nation’s Top Chief Executives Find Path to the Corner Office Usually Starts at State University,” The Wall Street Journal, Sept. 18, 2006, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115853818747665842.html

⁴ U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Postsecondary Student Aid Study: 2003–2004

⁵ http://collegesearch.collegeboard.com/search/adv_typeofschool.jsp (recommended by Ray Brown, TCU Dean of Admission)

⁶ http://www.ucan-network.org/

⁷ Ray Brown, TCU Dean of Admission

⁸ Mike Scott, TCU Director of Financial Aid

⁹ Brown

¹⁰ Scott

¹¹ http://www.fafsa.com/Forms/Ajax/FAFSA/fafsa.aspx

¹² Scott

¹³ “Inside the Stimulus Bill,” NAICU Washington Update, February 23, 2009
http://www.naicu.edu/news_room/inside-the-stimulus-bill

¹⁴ Scott

¹⁵ Terry W. Hartle, senior vice president for government and public affairs at the American Council on Education, spring 2008 presentation to TCU Administrative Council

¹⁶ Tony Pals, “Private Colleges Innovate to Combat Sticker Shock,” National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, December 14, 2007
http://www.naicu.edu/news_room/private-colleges-innovate-to-combat-sticker-shock)

¹⁷ Brian G. Gutierrez, TCU Vice Chancellor for Finance & Administration

¹⁸ Pals

¹⁹ Erin Hennessy, American Council on Education, “Recent Graduates Give Alma Maters High Grades: Solutions for Our Future National Poll Indicates Alumni Value Skills, Experience Gained Through Higher Education; Vast Majority Would Attend Same School Again,” May 20, 2008 (http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=27102)

²⁰ http://www.collegeboard.com/parents/csearch/know-the-options/21385.html

²¹Mark Yudof, former Chancellor of the University of Texas System, “Public Higher Education Takes to the Texas Airwaves,” Summer 2006

²² William E. Kirwan, Chancellor, University System of Maryland, Chair, Solutions for Our Future Oversight Committee, and David Ward, President, American Council on Education, Solutions Toolkit, Solutions for Our Future http://www.solutionsforourfuture.org/site/PageServer?pagename=tk_welcome