Despite the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid giving out more money than usual, some Ball State students are receiving less money this school year.
The financial aid office distributed $28.4 million more in scholarships, student employment, loans and grants this year to students than in 2009, though some students may have received less money this year, John McPherson, director of Scholarships and Financial Aid, said.
Last year, President Barack Obama passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which supplied Ball State with additional work study money for students in 2009, but there's no such thing this year, McPherson said.
"But if you look at individual programs, some went up, some went down [in money], but overall the amount of aid that was available was actually up this year," McPherson said. "The problem is our pool of applicants went up also."
The financial aid office gave about 200 more freshmen and 900 more upperclassmen rewards packages this year, McPherson said, adding that he will not know how many students will see a decrease in aid until the end of the week.
"We had about a 7 percent increase in our applicant pool this year," he said.
McPherson said the bad economy is hurting students as well as the university. There is a higher need for aid because families can't help out as much with tuition, and there's been an influx of adult students trying to get job training because they're out of work.
"Overall, I still think the total amount of aid is going to go up, it's just [that] the number of applicants has diluted our ability to meet each individual's needs," he said.
McPherson said when students fill out their Free Application for Federal Student Aid, they have to fill out their expected family contribution. The financial aid office takes the lowest estimated family contribution and the students with the highest need for aid and work their way up. Some students didn't receive as much money this year because more students were expecting less in family contributions.
McPherson said he doesn't know how many students were affected this year by the changes, but the university does notice there's a problem.
"The administration is very aware of the issue," he said.
McPherson said when the financial aid office packaged the freshmen this year, it didn't know what the state's formula was going to be, so it was based on the previous year's formula.
"It ended up the state's grants was going to be less, so the administration agreed to make up the difference," he said. "The administration is pretty sensitive to the fact that we're tight in the economy and that students have needs."
Junior exercise science major Audrey Bennett said she doesn't think it's fair that some students aren't getting as much money as they have in previous years.
"If you've gotten that amount in the past, you should be guaranteed at least that same amount every year," she said. "I know with [my grants], I get a little bit extra for books in the fall. If they take that money away for someone else, I still need that money."
Bennett said being a full-time student makes it difficult to find a job that pays enough for books and tuition.
McPherson said the financial aid office simply enforces the eligibility rules set by donors.
"The current requirements for almost all federal, state and many institutional funds is to do an annual need test," he said. "That is because there are limited dollars available and all donors want to ensure that their money reaches the desired recipients."
The other issue is that students' needs can change.
"If your parent made $100,000 last year and is now bankrupt due to the loss of a job, should we ignore you or should we try to help you as you are now more needy than someone else?" he said. "I would certainly hope someone would consider my case if it was me."
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