Regents Update

The Baylor University Board of Regents at its Homecoming meeting Oct. 20 set tuition and fees for 2007-08 and approved new academic programs and the construction of a faculty center.
Tuition will increase by 8 percent next year to $22,220 for 12 hours or more per semester. The general student fee will increase 6.07 percent to $2,270 for next year. Room and board rates for undergraduates will increase by 5.02 percent and 3.61 percent, respectively. Even with the increase, Baylor's tuition and fees remain lower than those of many of Baylor's peer private institutions.
Tuition for graduate students will increase by 7.93 percent. George W. Truett Theological Seminary students will see a 7.96 percent increase. Law students in fall 2007 will see a 7.52 percent increase.
Baylor President John M. Lilley told the board the tuition increase will generate the revenue essential to support current programs as well as a variety of new initiatives that will enhance educational quality at Baylor and continue to fuel progress on Baylor 2012.
Lilley said Baylor is committed to balancing fairly the twin demands of providing students the highest quality Christian education with keeping the university affordable. This year, nearly half of the entering freshman class received some form of need-based financial assistance.
Baylor Regents also approved a new dual master's degree program in theological studies and social work, the creation of two new research centers (real estate, nonprofit studies) in the Hankamer School of Business, and the return of the Department of Church-state Studies to its traditional status as an institute.
Regents approved the master of theological studies/master of social work (MTS/MSW) dual degree to be offered through George W. Truett Theological Seminary and the School of Social Work.
Regents also approved the establishment of The Keller Center and the Baylor Center for Nonprofit Studies, both at the Hankamer School of Business.
The Keller Center will complement a program in professional selling by adding a track in real estate. The center also will add a research component to the professional selling track.
The Center for Nonprofit Studies will focus research efforts on problems facing the nonprofit community.
Regents also approved a recommendation returning the department of church-state studies to its traditional status as an institute. The oldest and most well established facility of its kind located in a university setting, the J.M. Dawson Institute is exclusively devoted to research in the field of church and state and the advancement of religious liberty around the world.
Under the new structure, the institute will strengthen the master's program and implement a new program at the doctoral level with the institute's funding of "Dawson Fellows." These students will work toward a doctorate in a complementary discipline, such as religion, philosophy, political science or sociology, while taking a common 12-hour core in church-state studies.
Regents also approved the construction of the McMullen-Connally Family Faculty Center, named after Faber McMullen '53, MD '56 and Roxanna Connally McMullen '52, who have made a gift for the construction of the center. The McMullens gave the gift in honor of the great teaching legacy at Baylor, especially the influence that Dr. Cornelia Marschall Smith had on their lives. In addition to the gift to construct the building, the McMullens are generously donating their art collection which will be displayed and housed in the faculty center.'
The regents will next meet on Feb. 8-9, 2007.'