By MacKenzie Grizzard | Staff Writer
At their regular February meeting, the Baylor Board of Regents took major steps towards its five-year strategic plan, including approving a tuition increase for the 2025-26 school year, a new scholarship initiative and the addition of two new academic degrees.
“The regents took several steps to ensure we’re laying a foundation for the aggressive implementation of our new strategic plan, Baylor in Deeds,” President Linda Livingstone said.
One of these steps is the “Extend the Line” scholarship initiative, with goals to raise $250 million by 2030 for student scholarships.
Board of Regents Chair Dr. William E. Mearse said that in the meeting, members of the board not only pledged their support to this initiative, but will participate in its fundraising as well.
“The board is fully committed to Baylor in terms of being stewards of our Christian mission, as well as fiduciaries –– as well as advocates –– for our students, our faculty, our administration, our alumni and all the Baylor family,” Mearse said.
Pairing with the new scholarship initiative, the board also approved raising tuition for the 2025-26 school year, expecting the average net out-of-pocket increase in both tuition and fees to be $2,255 per incoming student.
“Increasing tuition and fees is never an easy decision for our university administration and the board of regents,” Livingstone said. “We take it very seriously, and there is always a lot of thoughtful and important discussion.”
Per the official news release, Baylor plans to increase scholarship funding by $5 million for returning students demonstrating “financial hardship.” Accompanying this, Baylor will extend some form of financial aid to over 90% of students and continue the Baylor Benefit Scholarship for students with an adjusted household income of $50,000 or less.
“When you compare our tuition to private schools of similar [U.S.] News and World Report rankings, we are an incredible value with our tuition level sitting near the bottom of that list,” Livingstone said.
According to the board, tuition and fees will increase from $58,100 to $63,620. However, this “sticker price” is rarely paid in full by Baylor students, as the majority of Baylor students receive some sort of financial aid or scholarship money.
“The ‘Extend the Line’ program is designed for people to to have a choice about where they allocate their scholarship dollars,” Livingstone said. “We certainly want there to be as much flexibility as possible, so we can use those scholarship dollars to be most helpful to our students.”
Academically, the board approved two new degrees: a bachelor of science in aerospace engineering within Baylor’s School of Engineering and Computer Science, and a bachelor of philosophy in great texts within the Honors College.
“We’re very excited about this,” Livingstone said. “It’s been identified as a priority growth area under Baylor in Deeds.”
According to Livingstone, through this new degree, Baylor hopes to establish a relationship with L3Harris and SpaceX, which are two major players within the aerospace engineering industry.
“In addition to all the aerospace activities across the state of Texas and in this region, we certainly hope to partner with those entities in this process,” Livingstone said.
The board also approved new fees for the Baylor Energy Complex and an additional increase in funding for the renovation of Kokernot Residence Hall.
According to the news release, the BEC can no longer “deliver optimal services” to Baylor’s campus and will receive $8 million for fees and support services to evaluate the next steps towards a new energy complex.
“What we approved this week was an exploration on what the next steps are,” Mearse said. “It will be a significant investment and significant cost.”
Kokernot Hall’s renovations are scheduled to begin in May, with an estimated completion of July 2026. The board approved an additional $25 million for Phase II of the renovations — one step further toward Baylor’s 2013 plan to renovate all 10 existing residence halls.
In the face of all these new changes, Livingstone affirms Baylor’s goals for its strategic plan and looks toward the future.
“The meeting is happening a time of the year –– and a time in our history –– that there is a lot of stress and uncertainty in higher education,” Livingstone said. “So we as a university and the board are certainly focused on Baylor’s future as a Christian [R1] university with a transformational educational experience.”
Mackenzie is a junior Journalism Public Relations major with a minor in Corporate Communication from Palm Beach, FL. She loves writing about politics, social issues, and the economy. After graduating, she hopes enter the corporate PR field.
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