Sadly the merit offers seem to be weak and barely make-up for the increased tuition over the last 3-4 years. I am willing to pay extra 10k per year over UT but anything over that doesn’t make sense. If they don’t increase the merit, it’ll financially unviable to attend for most people.
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@BUparent2025 when you do the math, see if you can shave off a year or more using AP or Dual Credit classes. Then do the math.
My son had his acceptance visible in the portal today, had not received an email stating there was an update. EA, applied common app on 8/1, acceptance 10/30. Business School, 3.89 HS weighted GPA, 70K merit (over 4 years), test optional.
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Yes, when I looked through the prior CDS reports, average merit scholarships for freshman last year were only $2K more in absolute dollars than in 2014! Even the bump in merit scholarships now does not come close to offsetting the tuition increases over the last decade.
My mother was a professor at Baylor so perhaps they thought D was certain to attend. Baylor is likely better than the state flagship she ended up attending, but it’s not three times better (and that was how much more expensive it was going to be).
I really miss the prior grid that they had before test optional, where there was at least some certainty. But when they went test optional everything just became a black box and they just used ‘merit’ as a tool for price discrimination, to try to set the price at at exactly $1 more than you can afford.
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Totally agree! For Texas kids, Baylor needs to make it competitive to UT and A&M cost wise, otherwise it doesn’t make financial sense to go to Baylor, at least not for middle class families.
well if you can shave off a year or more at Baylor, you can do same at UT and A&M too
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I wouldn’t think Baylor is better than UT and A&M, they are ranked in the 90s while UT is in the 30s and A&M is in the 50s. Baylor has smaller classes, but if you can get into the honors college of UT or A&M, you get small classes too.
Yes totally agree. I don’t quite understand their recruiting strategy. Doesn’t seem to be uniform for sure. My friend’s son got 14k/yr merit scholarship in 2021 (net tuition of 36k/yr) and everyone else he knows got it as well. After 4 years, the avg merit offer seems to be around 17.5 k/yr. After accounting for 10k/yr fee increase in the last 3 years, the net tuition is 40k/yr. Don’t understand their merit offers, they should target to lock in freshman but seem to be nonchalant about it. I think it’ll affect their recruitment since they are 25k+/yr higher than UT/A&M on tuition.
I see your point but you have to compare apples to apples, UT and A&M are public schools while Baylor is a private school. You are paying for a private school experience unless that is not your priority then definitely go for UT or A&M.
You have a good point, but paying for private school experience is a luxury, not a necessity. I believe most kids will do just fine going to top public universities like UT or A&M.
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Unfortunately, not for all. My son went to a private school in Japan for 6 years, then spent half of middle school here and high school in similar setting. When we went to Baylor to visit, he really likes it there. While he is thinking about going to a bigger university like UT and A&M, he will only do it if he gets accepted to UT Austin. Ha! I think he will be among the few that will not do good in bigger universities… Seeing a lot of great stats here, I am not 100% confident that he will get accepted in UT but I’m hopeful. So, if not UT, it will be definitely Baylor for him. Do I want to pay baylor’s price tag? No, but anything that I know will give my son a better chance of success, we are going for it. Every situation is different so really hard to conclude what’s luxury or not in this situation.
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I hear ya. Baylor seems to able to provide a safe and exceptional college life experience. We are willing to pay slight premium for that. Perhaps the fact that UT/TAMU are higher rank than Baylor with 25% of the cost makes you rethink 
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My D ended up at Alabama in an academic program much like the Baylor Honors College, but it only takes 120 kids per year and you end up with a minor in the Liberal Arts and starts with 15 person seminars as a first year to do hard core work on writing. The kids in the program have exceptional grad school outcomes.
Baylor is higher ranked, but we are only paying 4k per year in tuition (cheaper than Texas Tech in state with her scholarship), and she wanted to preserve her 529 for her masters & Ph.D. Baylor isn’t that much better (and I say this as a Baylor grad whose mother was on faculty at Baylor).
Does anyone know if kids can get invites for both DSD and I2E or is it one or the other? I see that the two cannot be stacked, but I don’t know if some kids are given the choice of which they would like to participate in.
Also, do any current students or parents have any information on DSD including what to expect, how to dress, etc.?
In think your kid needs to dress formally. We attended with our daughter in 2016.
Hi, my daughter applied Early Action just before the deadline. She got everything in, but then I just looked at the financial aid tab in the gobaylor account today. Neither of us saw it earlier, but it says that she was supposed to have submitted her CSS profile by 11/1. I will help her complete it today, but I’m so confused by that. Why isn’t that on the application checklist? And is it too late since it’s 11/4 and there will still be a delay before it’s received? Thank you!
Following, wondering if this affects admissions…
The short answer for Baylor’s cost is that they charge what the market is willing to pay. They’re not hurting for admissions and enrollment is capped.
When you drive around the campus, there are many kids from California, Colorado and states beyond that are looking for a private, Christian environment. The families are willing to pay that premium to avoid some of the trappings that have engulfed higher public ed.
Yes, A&M and UT are generally more affordable and higher ranked, but they are a very different experience. For my oldest daughter, Baylor is a perfect fit and she loves the school and her experience thus far. Each family has to assess their own child and what makes the most sense from a fit and financial standpoint. We all have different priorities when it comes to financial spend.
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It would seem, however, since the top merit scholarship awards have increased by more than $10K per year over last year, that they were not pulling in the quality of students they wanted. The market works that way as well.
I am with you on this. For Texas kids ranked top 6% or 10% of their class, Baylor wouldn’t have much advantage with 60K/year tuition and the capped 30K/year merit scholarship.