2008 Woodie Awards
Video related to this article is available below.Issue date: 1/18/08 Section: News
New aid packages' effects reach wide
For small liberal arts schools, recent aid announcements difficult to follow
Zoe Tillman
The institutions reducing financial aid "are serving a very small fraction of the more than ten million college-bound students," Benedict says. "Our task now is to make need-based aid sensible."
However, worries over the changing nature of financial aid are not universal. Many liberal arts schools compete mostly with one another for their students, said Parker Beverage, dean of admissions and financial aid at Colby College.
Such schools would feel pressure "if all of a sudden, seven schools in our conference are no longer packaging loans for students who need financial aid," Beverage said.
Still, many college officials disapprove of shifting attention away from the needs of low-income students.
Donald Heller, chairman of the Council on Public Policy in Higher Education, says he worries that at institutions assisting higher income families, "these wealthy students will crowd out poor and middle income students."
Solving a lack of access goes beyond tuition, Hutcheson said - like the problems of additional travel and living costs and helping students understand their options.
More government involvement in helping families pay for college is one solution, according to higher-education experts.
Benedict says that she favors grants that are applicable at any school, but is skeptical that the federal government will take significant action anytime soon.
However, worries over the changing nature of financial aid are not universal. Many liberal arts schools compete mostly with one another for their students, said Parker Beverage, dean of admissions and financial aid at Colby College.
Such schools would feel pressure "if all of a sudden, seven schools in our conference are no longer packaging loans for students who need financial aid," Beverage said.
Still, many college officials disapprove of shifting attention away from the needs of low-income students.
Donald Heller, chairman of the Council on Public Policy in Higher Education, says he worries that at institutions assisting higher income families, "these wealthy students will crowd out poor and middle income students."
Solving a lack of access goes beyond tuition, Hutcheson said - like the problems of additional travel and living costs and helping students understand their options.
More government involvement in helping families pay for college is one solution, according to higher-education experts.
Benedict says that she favors grants that are applicable at any school, but is skeptical that the federal government will take significant action anytime soon.
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