But, if you’d asked me, I’d have suggested something different. I’d have suggested a move toward generational retention. I’d suggest offering that discount to the next generation for families who have history with ACU.

I have a bachelor’s from ACU and a master’s from Texas Tech. But before me, my father, Michael Burk, was also an ACU graduate and member of the 1973 Championship football team. ACU has become a family tradition of sorts. Work keeps me from getting back to Abilene often, but when we do, we always stop through campus, and when we can attend any kind of game or event, it’s always a real treat. I made friends there that I still get together with now, nearly two decades later. Finding out someone else that I meet is also an ACU graduate is usually all it takes to make a fast friend.

Tuition prices at ACU have skyrocketed since I graduated in December of 2003. If you can believe it, I shelled out a whopping $450 per credit hour at that time, and let me tell you, it was outrageous! And it’s never stopped increasing.

I would love for my children to have the same experiences I did and that my father did before me, but I don’t want to saddle them with an insurmountable debt that will take as long as a mortgage to pay off, and I’m not sure I can justify the additional cost beyond other institutions of higher learning.

As an interested alumni, I’d love for ACU to consider some kind of discount for families that have a multi-generational ACU heritage.  I don’t plan on pursuing more education for myself any time in the near future, or in the future at all. But I do intend to send my children to school. Don’t offer me a discount; Offer it to my children.

Sincerely,

Shane Burk

Class of 2004

Graduated December 2003