States Cut Financial Aid To College Students As Demand Booms

[Marguerite]

States cut aid to college students as demand booms

MADISON, Wis. – Struggling with budget shortfalls that reach into the billions, several states are making deep cuts in college financial aid programs, including those that provide a vital source of cash for students who most need the money.

At least a dozen states are reducing award sizes, eliminating grants and tightening eligibility guidelines because of a lack of money. At the same time, the number of students seeking aid is rising sharply as more people seek a college education and need help paying the tuition bill because they or their parents lost jobs and savings during the recession.

Many of the affected programs are need-based grants that provide money that complements financial aid offered by schools and the federal government. Without that cash, some students may be forced to drop out, transfer to cheaper schools or simply have less money available for rent and groceries. Experts fear others will take on too much debt or spend even more time working as they pursue a degree.

"There's almost no question the folks coming in are probably going to have much more difficulty getting by year to year in college and staying enrolled as a result," said Sara Goldrick-Rab, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an expert on financial aid. "The safety net is falling away."

State financial aid accounted for 12 percent of the grants awarded to college students in 2007-2008, according to the New York-based College Board. While that's a fraction of the financial aid provided to millions of students by schools, the federal government and private scholarships, the demand for aid is booming. Roughly 620,000 more students applied for federal aid in the first quarter compared with last year, a jump of more than 25 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

University of Illinois senior Brandi Cho, 21, said her parents cannot afford to make up the $2,500 she expected to do without after her state grant runs out in the spring. She is considering two options: Find a second weekend job on top of the 15 hours a week she already works, or cram five senior-level accounting classes into the fall semester so she can graduate early.

"The best that I can do is just start saving every penny that I have," Cho said.

The cuts come as lawmakers and governors struggle to balance budgets crippled by the recession's impact on tax revenues. Lottery-funded merit aid programs in states such as Georgia, Florida and West Virginia are also pinched as revenues from the games are leveling off and in some cases declining.

In Illinois, a state scrambling to find $11 billion in budget savings, officials are telling 145,000 low-income students who receive the state's need-based Monetary Award Program grants to expect no help in the spring semester because money for the program will run out. Lawmakers and Gov. Pat Quinn cut the state's aid budget in half; an additional 40,000 students who rely on other state programs will be affected, too.

Ohio is eliminating grants of up to $2,496 for low-income community college students, and cutting them by more than 50 percent for low-income students at four-year universities. The state is axing $640 grants for 58,000 private school students and grants of up to $4,000 for 22,500 students attending two-year, for-profit schools.

"That's a lot of money to someone like me," said Maria Zimbardi, a 33-year-old mother of three in Youngstown, Ohio, who will not receive the nearly $3,300 grant she got last year. She is working part time as a waitress while learning administrative and accounting skills at National College, and is taking out more student loans — which now total $29,000 — so she can graduate next May.

The Wisconsin Higher Educational Aids Board projects that more than 20,000 low-income students will not receive grants because of a lack of money and a sharp increase in applicants. Jennifer Matamoros is among them, and the senior at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater — where tuition has increased about 6 percent a year in each of the past four years — is worried about paying bills without the $2,600 grant she got last year.

She said she'll likely borrow more and graduate with $30,000 in student-loan debt, which is as much as she expects to make a year in her career as an elementary school teacher. "They just keep raising more costs and taking away more money," she said.

Education Sector, a Washington-based think tank, warned in a recent study that student debt was at an all-time high, with a rising share owed to riskier private student loans. The study warned that could eventually reduce access to higher education and lead to more students defaulting on their loans.

"It's going to start to impact the equation of whether college is worth it for some students," said Erin Dillon, a policy analyst for the group.

In Michigan, where state lawmakers have yet to pass a spending plan, about 96,000 students don't yet know the value of their Promise scholarships — or if they get one at all. The state's Republican-controlled Senate voted to eliminate the $140 million program that provides high school graduates with up to $4,000, but Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm has vowed to restore some of money.

Financial aid officials in other states are making difficult choices with the limited funds they have. In Massachusetts, where the state financial aid budget was cut 10 percent, the Office of Student Financial Assistance plans to make deep cuts to other aid programs to preserve the need-based Mass Grants program. Even so, many grants could fall by $400 to $500 compared with last year.

Wisconsin decided to slightly increase the average grant awards because students are showing much greater need, said Connie Hutchison, the executive secretary of the Wisconsin Higher Educational Aids Board. That meant university students who applied in July for aid are learning the pool of money has run out.

"We're getting a lot of questions about why students are not getting financial aid they got last year," Hutchison said. "It's so hard to explain to them."

___

Associated Press writers Tim Martin in Lansing, Mich., Dorie Turner in Atlanta and David Mercer in Champaign, Ill., contributed to this report.

Sort of a let down because while I am getting Financial Aid, they are trying to throw in more stipulations with students needing to keep 12 units (about four classes), pass 10 units and the possibility of a few of the grants coming in late or even cut it in half. With the Cal Grant, there is the worry the Cal Grant will fall through or come too late to pay off student accounts.

[Transgirlenstein]

They really need to look at student loans and just overall the whole damn system.  I'm so in debt I could buy a house..maybe a house and a car with the money.

[Trieste]

It's really scary. I would prefer to stay in classes, but I make just enough now to live on ... if they asked me to pay more than MAYBE a few hundred for classes, I couldn't do it. I just want to finish my degree and have at least my undergrad... I'll figure the rest out later.

God, speaking of grad school, the grad students must be feeling an even tighter pinch. As I recall, it's even harder to get grants and funding for grad school.

[Oniya]

What's a little ironic is the fact that I've seen things encouraging people - particularly stay-at-home moms - to go back to school.

[The Overlord]

 
All I can say is I finished this past December and I'm glad I got out when I did, good luck to those still in.

If they had refused me partway in and left me high and dry with no degree and loans due, I'd definitely be considering not-so-legal ways to pay them.

[Destiny Ascension]

Heh, lack of getting FA is why I joined the Marines instead of trotting off to university. Take notes children, thats why life sucks.

Sucks though, people are getting denied enough as it is, this just worsens the situation. The only way to get a chance these days is a university piece of paper and hella good luck, that or be good at something that doesn't need a piece of paper to say your good at it.

Hopefully, for the most part, we can find a way around this. Then again, its hilarious...everyone says you need a college education, but nobody will help you get it.

[The Overlord]

God, speaking of grad school, the grad students must be feeling an even tighter pinch. As I recall, it's even harder to get grants and funding for grad school.

My brother is working on a master’s right now, and so far I think the money end is going OK for him.

I'm holding a BFA and for now I'm done with school. Too much bureaucracy and bullshit in my final year. At this point I'm intent on just getting a job, don't truly give a rat's ass if it's what I went to class for, I've got plans on the shelf for that later.

[Mathim]

What I want to know is, where is all this money they're cutting from aid and the fee increases, going? I mean, it's like a vacuum where it only goes in one way and doesn't recirculate back down. That's how the economy is supposed to work.

[Oniya]

I suspect it's more a case of the sponsoring organizations (be it state or corporate scholarships) not getting the contributions that they draw the money from.  Look at it this way - let's take an average household that, every week, buys a lottery ticket.  A portion of the proceeds from that ticket and thousands like it go to the state's education budget.  That budget helps fund financial aid.

Now, in a time of economic stress, certain expenses get cut on the household level.  That lottery ticket and thousands like it do not get bought.  That contribution to the state's education budget doesn't get made.  The state tries to pass tax increases to supplement the budget - the citizens vote them down, because they don't want to pay more taxes.  Result:  Budget cuts.

If you're going to follow the money, you have to follow the cycle all the way around.

[Marguerite]

Right now they closed SFSU from yesterday to Tuesday because it cannot pay the summer staff and instead of negotiating, flat out told them not to come into worka nd will not be paid those days off.

[Trieste]

My brother is working on a master’s right now, and so far I think the money end is going OK for him.

Well, there are several ways to pay for grad school. The one that is the most common (or so I'm told) is to promise someone a certain amount of years, a certain GPA, or something of the like. A few examples:

You're an honors student with a 4.0 and part of the National Honor Society. The NHS alumni association decides that they want to sponsor your graduate studies, so long as you maintain your 4.0, so that you later become an NHS alumnus of, say, Princeton. Princeton puts another honor student on their stats and NHS has a potential source of future income from a respected and well-educated member of the community.

You're an intern at XYZ Corporation and they promise to fund your graduate studies in return for signing a contract to work for them for a minimum of 5 years after obtaining a degree. They promise you a salary of 65k for those years, where they usually have to hire someone with the same degree and experience for 75k. They save 50k in the long run, you get an education AND a guaranteed job later on. It's pretty win-win, even with the pay cut.

You've got a degree in early education, and you want a MAT. The school district agrees to fund you for it if you agree to teach in their school district for at least 6 years.

... and so on and so forth. Those who are funded or sponsored for grad school may be feeling a slight pinch, but the impression I get is that it's more difficult to get financial aid for graduate studies because there are so many options for sponsorship. So those who are not sponsored...  :-\

[Myrleena]

*shakes her head* I'm so glad I'm not going to need to count on FA.  I'm going to school for Pharmacy Technician training, which is about a 6 month course where I am, and my parents are helping me with it.  I'm just hoping that their 100% placement rate is true, so that I can use it to pay for college.

[Trieste]

Got a letter today from MA State Department of Higher Ed and all I could think of was this thread. I'm like, god, they're going to tell me I have no money for school...

Turns out it was a letter telling me I have been accepted for a MassGrant, dependent on the amount of funds allocated by the state. Sigh of relief goes here.

[Marguerite]

-Hugs-

That is great to hear Trieste.

[Trieste]

Annnnnd it's not over; more domino from a poor economy: less taxes.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/09/29/mass_revenue_projected_to_be_100m_200m_less_than_projected/?page=1

[Kurzyk]

There's talk behind the scenes of our university closing in the next few years because of the economy. They're cutting programs and classes left and right, and many teachers and staff have been laid off. If they do decide to close the school, I hope they just cut new enrollment and allow current students to finish. It would suck to have to transfer again.

[Trieste]

Oh my god.

On the one hand, that would highly suck. On the other hand, if they did that in my school, it might actually spur me to try and apply to BU. I would loooove to go to BU... But I'm a scaredy-cat. :P

[Kurzyk]

hehe I know what you mean. The up side to them closing the school down would be that I would then apply to LSU which is a much better school and really the flagship university of the state. It's a bit of a drive to get to, but would be fun to go.

[Trieste]

My school is holding a rally this Wednesday to show support for UMD and in the hopes that Patrick won't slash our financial aid. I'm not sure how effective it will be, but I'm thinking I might skip class and go...

[Avi]

This is just perfect... just as I'm in the process of applying for grad school too.  Oh, how I LOVE this economy.  Man, that job with the government is looking better and better...