1 / 21

Financial Aid & University of Wisconsin Students

Financial Aid & University of Wisconsin Students. Special Committee on Review of Higher Education Financial Aid Programs: August 17, 2010. UW Goals: Growth Agenda. UW Goals: More Graduates. UW is committing to more graduates and increased enrollments:

marcy
Download Presentation

Financial Aid & University of Wisconsin Students

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Financial Aid & University of Wisconsin Students Special Committee on Review of Higher Education Financial Aid Programs: August 17, 2010

  2. UW Goals: Growth Agenda

  3. UW Goals: More Graduates • UW is committing to more graduates and increased enrollments: • Increase enrollments to almost 196,000 students by Fall 2015 – 9.2% increase over Fall 2009. • Produce a cumulative total of 80,000 more Associate & Bachelor’s Degrees by 2025. • Produce more than 40,000 degrees (all types) per year by 2025.

  4. UW: Challenges • Importance of financial aid for low- and moderate-income parents and students • Students who have financial concerns less likely to enroll or graduate • Students from the lowest income quintile (income less than $34,000 in 2008) apply and enroll in lower proportions than students from other income quintiles.

  5. UW: Challenges

  6. UW: Challenges

  7. UW: Challenges • These trends can mean fewer college degrees: • greater concern about costs by low- and moderate-income students • lower enrollment and graduation rates for these students • more low-income students and students of color in the high school population • Financial aid and particularly grant funding are increasingly important in addressing these trends.

  8. Financial Aid for UW Students: Types • There are three primary types of financial aid for UW: • Grants - merit and need-based ($297.1M) • Loans ($750M) • Work Study ($14.8M) • Loans comprise 71% of all financial aid funding provided to UW students.

  9. Sources of Financial Aid, 2008-09 *does not include the value of tax credits & deductions.

  10. Financial Aid for UW Students: Grants • Pell Grants - $94.5M • Wisconsin Higher Education Grants (WHEG) - $55M • Other State Grants (UW) - $19.6M

  11. Financial Aid for UW Students: UW Programs • State-Funded Programs in UW’s Budget (2009-10 figures): • Study Abroad Grants ($990K) • Tuition Increase Grants ($4.1M) • Lawton Minority Undergraduate Retention Grants ($6.4M) • Advanced Opportunity Program ($8.1M)

  12. Financial Aid for UW Students: Loans • Loans - $681.7 M from federal sources • 43.8% are need-based loans • Loans comprise 82.4% of federal aid • Federal sources provide 90.9% of all student loans

  13. State-Funded Financial Aid:National Comparisons • Wisconsin ranks 28th in terms of state grant dollars per population age 18-24 (traditional college students) • Wisconsin ranks 30th in terms of state grant $ per undergraduate FTE

  14. State-Funded Financial Aid:Interstate Comparisons • State grant dollars per population age 18-24: • MN = $302.61 / WI = $200.03 • State grant dollars per undergraduate FTE: • MN = $647.79 / WI = $455.97 • Need-based state grant dollars per FTE: • MN = $647.55 / WI = $443.12

  15. Paying for Higher Education: Increasing Reliance on Student Loans & Debt • Over time, students have been relying more heavily on loans to finance their education. • Student loans comprise over 70% of financial aid. • Over half of UW students (53%) borrowed in 2008-09, up from 42% at the start of the decade. • The average UW student who borrowed had almost $24,000 in debt at graduation in 2008-09.

  16. Paying for Higher Education: Increasing Unmet Student Need • In 2009-10, WHEG-UW was level funded, and approximately 7,400 WHEG-eligible students were not able to receive a grant. • In 2010-11, 14% decrease in WHEG awards to fund more students, but funding has again run out early. • Over 50,000 UW students had unmet financial need in 2008-09, a 6% increase from 2004-05.

  17. UW Principles for Financial Aid • Socio-economic diversity in higher education is critical to American democracy • Student recruitment, retention, and degree completion is most successful when financial barriers are eliminated. • Financial aid should ensure that cost of attendance does not limit a student’s choice of UW institution. • Student loan debt should remain reasonable.

  18. UW Principles • Adequate need-based grant aid remains the top priority, but scholarships should remain in order to recognize talent, encourage, and reward the academic effort of students. • Provide a clear, early message to all students and their parents that college is possible. • Financial aid should be consistent and predictable, both for students and for financial aid programs.

  19. UW Financial Aid Recommendations • No one should be priced out of a college education: • Any qualified Wisconsin resident should be able to access, afford and complete a UW degree. • Grants through the WHEG program should increase dollar-for dollar with tuition, so that low-income students are held-harmless against rising costs. • Middle-income students and families should be helped with costs through increased financial aid.

  20. UW Recommendations • “Aspirational” programs that educate students about higher education and financial aid, such as KnowHow2Go and the Wisconsin Covenant, should be supported and expanded. • Financial aid should not be a patchwork of programs and should be easily understood. Therefore, new or additional programs should be integrated into current ones.

  21. UW Recommendations • It is important to acknowledge that for financial aid, “money does matter” • Budget reductions that result in tuition increases also impact affordability and access.

More Related