At Trinity, it is truly our honor to partner with our students as they discern how to use their gifts in God’s world. Our commitment is to always seek the good of our students and to be attentive to the gifts God has given our community. Beginning with the Fall 2022 semester, Trinity has launched a set of initiatives designed for our current and incoming students.
Our Wellbeing Wednesdays Initiative launched in the Fall 2022 semester with a redesigned four-day academic schedule that leaves Wednesdays open for student wellbeing. Trinity is one of the few colleges that have taken a step this significant to foreground student wellbeing. We know that when our students are well academically, spiritually, emotionally, socially, financially, etc., they do well!
Our Earn, Network, and Learn Initiative is designed to create a network of paid internships that will allow students to earn academic credit, build professional networks, receive early access to career preparation, and earn tuition grants to reduce the cost of their education. A pilot program launched in the Fall 2022 semester and will expand in the Spring 2023 and Fall 2023 semesters.
Trinity is eager to announce the Tuition Transparency and Access Initiative, launching in the Fall 2023 semester for incoming students. This initiative is a bold change aimed at creating a more realistic, accessible, and transparent pricing structure for students navigating the college financial aid process for the first time. We are moving the price adjustment that usually comes very late in the aid process to the front end of the process, with a 40% reduction in the sticker price of tuition. This will enable students to far more quickly understand the cost of their education.
Dear students,
I am writing to you today about three transformational opportunities that Trinity is pursuing on your behalf. I have been eager to share this with you!
It is truly our honor at Trinity to partner with you in your education as you grow toward your vocation in God’s world. Our commitment, always, is to seek pathways to seek your good even as we aim to faithfully be a community attentive to God’s gifts here on campus and in our wider communities.
Thanks to the amazing work of Trinity’s staff and faculty, a group of people deeply devoted to your well-being, you have already begun to experience the initial stages of a set of student-focused initiatives designed for both current students and for incoming students.
- This fall, we launched our first initiative: Wellbeing Wednesdays. The transformation of our weekly academic schedule was designed for you to grow in your vocation – God’s call for you to flourish as a fully human being. We are excited to see how receiving this gift of time has made new things possible with regard to your wellbeing spiritually, academically, socially, emotionally, professionally, financially, and more. This initiative was designed with you in mind, to create space for you to thrive so that you can make the absolute most of your college experience.
- Also this fall, we have launched pilot versions of our second initiative: Earn, Network, and Learn. A handful of Trinity students are already experiencing high-impact internships that allow them to earn academic credit, build professional networks, and receive tuition grants that help reduce the cost of their education. The full launch of the Earn, Network, and Learn initiative will occur next fall, but more opportunities will unfold this spring. This initiative was also designed with you in mind, to welcome you into the gifts of our Greater Chicago region and the incredible number of businesses and non-profits seeking to do good in God’s world. We want to welcome you into these transformational opportunities in ways that catalyze your learning and launch you into your post-college lives. You can expect more information in the coming months about this exciting opportunity.
- Finally, next fall Trinity will launch the Tuition Transparency and Access Initiative:
- For returning students, this means freezing your tuition for the 2023-2024 school year so that you can confidently know there will be no inflationary increases to your tuition.
- For new, incoming students, our Tuition Transparency and Access Initiative involves a bold change to the current model of college pricing and financial aid.
Currently, most schools have set tuition prices very high and then give large scholarships to offset the cost of attendance. In recent years, we have begun to see clearly the way that this model has not worked well for incoming students and their families. It is complicated, confusing, and often creates barriers. You may remember some of the complexity of that experience while you were making your college decision. Beginning in fall 2023, Trinity will move to a completely different model that is intended to serve incoming students by being more realistic (a price more reflective of the actual cost of education), accessible (a lower sticker price), and transparent (an aid process that is as simple as possible for students and families). While you have already navigated this entry experience in your college decision and entered Trinity under a high price and high scholarship model, incoming students will enter under a new model with a lower price and lower scholarship that we hope will create a different, simpler entry process. Current students can rest assured that their scholarships will remain at their current levels and requirements, in line with the current pricing and financial aid model. Trinity is announcing this new model for incoming students later today, which will feature a sticker price of $19,800 and scholarships scaled appropriately.
Our commitment to our current students is twofold:
- First, in addition to the tuition freeze for current students, we are finalizing other opportunities to support students who entered under the current model. You can expect that you will hear the final details by November 14, well in advance of the early summer release of financial aid packages for fall 2023.
- Second, we are eager to speak with you about the wider opportunities available to us in these three initiatives – and we want to listen to your questions. I would like to invite you to a campus forum for students the week following reading break, during which we’ll have time to speak at greater length. You are beloved here. You belong here. We are excited for what Trinity’s transformational initiatives mean for you!
I hope you can begin to see the ways the three initiatives above come together to reflect an institution whose focus is on the good of students and the gifts of this place. We want you to flourish in mind, body, and soul. We think these initiatives set Trinity apart and will enable us to be a leading voice toward new pathways that help all of our students thrive as deeply as possible in all the ways God desires their good!
If you have questions about any of these initiatives, let us know by completing this form or calling 708-239-3800. You can also learn more and read FAQs at www.trnty.edu/tuitionupdate.
Thank you for all that you contribute to the life of this campus and to our community. It is such a joy and honor to share in your education and growth!
Peace,
Aaron J. Kuecker, Ph.D.
Interim President
Wellbeing Wednesdays Initiative
We believe students deserve to focus on their wellbeing spiritually, academically, socially, emotionally, professionally, financially, and more.
Earn, Network, and Learn Initiative
We believe students deserve to experience high-impact internships to earn academic credit, build professional networks, and receive tuition grants.
Tuition Transparency and Access Initiative
We believe college should be accessible to all, and your top choice should not be limited by a bottom-line number.
Frequently Asked Questions
Starting with the 2023-2024 school year, Trinity will reduce the price of tuition by over 40% from $33,800 to $19,800 for incoming students in the traditional undergraduate program. This is a significant step forward in Trinity’s multiyear pathway towards transparency in college affordability and accessibility.
Room, board, and fees will maintain their current structure for the 2023-2024 school year.
Trinity is committed to having the most transparent and accessible tuition structure possible. We believe this is better for students and families. Higher education has traditionally operated on a high price, high discount model – meaning that the “sticker price” cost of tuition is a price very few students ever pay. We recognize that this model can be confusing for many families, so we are committing ourselves to offering students and families a realistic idea of the cost of a college education. This reset of tuition puts the cost of Trinity tuition at a price point that is not only more realistic but also more accessible for families of different income levels, with a transparent pricing strategy to support affordability. This is also a step in Trinity’s commitment to creating pathways towards making debt-free tuition a possibility.
This step towards tuition transformation is geared to traditional undergraduate pricing. Trinity continues to work to ensure that graduate and adult undergraduate pricing models are accessible and clear.
Trinity’s new model will be implemented one year at a time for incoming students. Current Trinity students entered under a high price and high scholarship model, which is the standard model within higher education. Incoming students will enter under a new model with a lower price and lower scholarship. The goal of the Tuition Transparency and Access Initiative is to make our process more transparent, realistic, and accessible. Current Trinity students received most price adjustment on the back end of the financial aid process, through significantly larger scholarships. New incoming students will receive most price adjustment on the front end of the process, with a tuition pricing model whose starting point aligns more closely with the cost of a Trinity education. Because the new tuition model is concerned with creating a more accessible entry point experience for students navigating the college decision process, our plan is to implement one year at a time for students upon admission. While scholarship amounts for incoming students will be scaled down with tuition, continuing students can rest assured that they will continue to receive their higher scholarship levels, which offset the higher price point in the current model, under current scholarship eligibility guidelines.
Trinity is committed to exploring how best to support and benefit students on the current model, including freezing tuition for returning students for the 2023-2024 academic year to ensure returning students do not incur any inflation of costs. Full details of our approach for current students will be communicated by November 14, 2022, well in advance of the release of returning student financial aid packages at the end of the spring semester.
Prospective students for the traditional undergraduate program who start at Trinity for the Fall 2023 semester will enter under the new tuition structure of $19,800. Scholarships will be scaled, and the tuition deposit will be reduced from $250 to $150 for the Fall 2023 semester. This change will not impact students starting at Trinity for the Spring 2023 semester.
Trinity will continue to offer merit-based scholarships under the reset tuition structure, including academic scholarships, athletic scholarships, and co-curricular scholarships. All Trinity scholarships will be scaled to match the new tuition structure.
We are also excited to announce that new, incoming transfer students will now have access to the same level of academic scholarships as first year students.
Trinity will continue to award dozens of scholarships generously funded by our donors. As these donor-supported scholarship amounts will remain the same, they will now have even greater impact in supporting students financially. For example, a $2,000 donor-supported scholarship is 10% of the new tuition, where formerly that scholarship would have been only 6% of the listed tuition.
Yes. Trinity will continue to award institutional need-based aid to support student access to a Trinity education. Additionally, as state and federal financial aid amounts will increase for the 2023-2024 school year, state and federal financial aid awarded to Trinity students will have an even greater impact in helping students afford their college tuition, with eligible Illinois state residents having access to up to $15,000 in state and federal aid for 2023-2024.
As Trinity launches several new initiatives to support student success—including moving to a four-day academic schedule in the Fall 2022 semester to keep Wednesdays open for student wellbeing through the Wellbeing Wednesday Initiative—this tuition transformation is an initiative aimed at revamping the financial model of higher education. To further this work, Trinity is also in the process of building networks of paid internships across the Chicagoland area, to allow students access to earlier career preparation and additional avenues towards a debt-free tuition through the Earn, Network, and Learn Initiative. A co-op pilot program, built on this model, has launched in the Fall 2022 semester.
Absolutely not! The Tuition Transparency and Access Initiative is about transparent, realistic, and accessible pricing. Trinity will continue to offer all programs and services available under the current model.
Current students: Please submit your questions using this form at any time or call 708-239-3800 during business hours.
Prospective students: Please reach out to your admissions representative or contact the admissions office at 708-239-4708 or admissions@trnty.edu with your questions.
Please submit your questions using this form and the appropriate person will be in touch with you.