Tuition vs. financial aid discounting - Letters

University Business, April, 2002 by Kirby Fadenrecht

I enjoyed your editor's note in this month's issue. Pricing tuition and managing a financial aid discounting program is quite an art, especially for a college like ours that has virtually no endowment. Students and parents expect to be rewarded for scholarship and participation in activities, and also be assisted with financial need, as they define it, not as the government defines it. How can we find the acceptable operating level where we provide quality education (so that graduates will be marketable in the labor pool), sustain our mission as a Christian college without compromise, and give students an overall good college experience? We always think we know what the successful formula is, but obtaining a few of the variables always seems to be elusive.

Put us on your list for your kids. We'll work with [applicants] on [their] "creative financing" strategies.[They] may not even need a "shoe-horn."

MR. KIRBY FADENRECHT
VP, Business and Finance
Tabor College
Hillsboro, KS