UNT named to best college buy list

by Leslie Fortson of North Texas Daily

Institutional Research and Evaluation Inc. named UNT one of America's 100 Best College Buys for the 13th consecutive year.

The colleges on the list are not ranked, but UNT's rates are the lowest among the other Texas schools listed, which are Texas A&M and Abilene Christian universities.

"This is just a sign that shows that tuition has changed and grown over the last 13 years," said Troy Johnson, UNT's associate vice president of enrollment management. "We've kept our rates affordable."

UNT tuition fees for in-state full time undergraduates are the second lowest on the list, and the cost for out-of-state full time undergraduates are 25 percent under the national average. According to Johnson, keeping tuition low is a priority at UNT that is met by making students aware of all the financial aid available and programs such as the Timely Graduation Tuition program, which was implemented this fall.

With the Timely Graduation Tuition program, undergraduates taking more than 12 hours pay one flat rate. The program was created to help students save money and graduate in a timely manner.

"We could charge as high as other institutions such as the University of Texas at Dallas, but we choose not to," Johnson said. "An interesting way we try to keep things affordable is trying to help students seek external funding."

This academic year, UNT helped students receive nearly half a million dollars in grants from the Timely Graduation Foundation's Charlie Wooten Grant. According to Johnson, NT students received more money from the foundation than any other school in the country because NT applied for it.

"One of the reasons I decided to go here was because I got such good financial aid," biology freshman Jennifer Lam said.

The fact that UNT is on the list once again is a comforting thought for some students.

"I think it's great that UNT keeps its tuition so low since it could probably be a lot higher with us being one of the best music schools in the country," music junior Brice Haueisen said.

Other students like biology sophomore Meghan Hinskey were surprised that UNT was on the list for such a long time.

"I've always felt like everything here was too expensive," Hinskey said. "But that could be just because I'm a science major and have to pay a bunch of ridiculous lab fees and tutoring fees for tutoring I don't need."

Johnson believes that UNT will stay on the list for years to come.

"We believe that we can keep providing high quality education for the rates we've been charging," Johnson said.