Regents Set Tuition For 2005-06, Approve Medical Humanities Program
The Baylor University Board of Regents on Friday approved a 6.4 percent increase in tuition for the 2005-06 academic year and authorized a new program in medical humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Tuition for undergraduate students entering Baylor in the fall of 2005 will increase 6.4 percent to $19,050. Continuing students who enrolled prior to fall 2002 will see a tuition increase of 6.3 percent to $490 per semester hour. Baylor moved to a flat-rate tuition structure in Fall 2002. Students who enrolled prior to fall 2002 were grandfathered under the former per-semester hour structure.
Tuition rates for new graduate students will increase 6.4 percent and George W. Truett Theological Seminary students will experience a 6.7 percent increase. New law students entering in fall 2005 will see a 12.5 percent increase while continuing law students will experience a 9 percent increase in tuition.
In other action, Baylor regents approved upgrading the Medical Humanities minor to a program in the College of Arts and Sciences, making Baylor one of the few institutions with a Medical Humanities Program for undergraduates. The program will further strengthen Baylor's tradition of participation and leadership in healthcare education, and will give Baylor premed and prehealth students a distinct advantage when they apply for admission to medical schools and other health professional schools.
"The Medical Humanities Program takes an interdisciplinary approach and will give students a first-hand exposure not only to the diagnostic but also the human aspects of healthcare. Both aspects lie at the heart of medicine and the other healthcare professions," said Dr. Wallace L. Daniel, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. "The key feature of the program has been in existence at Baylor for five years and has been extremely attractive to students; it fits our traditions and our existing strengths very well."
Students also will have the opportunity to participate in hospital rotations and clinical internships.
As a program, Medical Humanities will be housed in the new Baylor Sciences Building and will be led by a full-time director to be appointed from the current Baylor faculty. Dr. Michael Attas, a Waco cardiologist and Medical Humanities faculty member, will continue as associate director and serve as a liaison for the program with local clinicians.
In the future, courses will be offered in such areas as the history, law and literary and philosophical perspectives in medicine. The program will support activities including the development of continuing education courses for area physicians, bringing guest speakers to campus, attending professional conferences and meetings, and continuing medical missions opportunities and retreats for premed students.