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http://www.biconews.com/?p=13491

Cutting Financial Aid Should Be Off the Table
By Dave Merrell

As the economic crisis deepens, Haverford has difficult budget decisions on the horizon. A shrinking endowment has Haverford facing cascading budget shortfalls in the coming years.

Financial aid, long a cornerstone of a Haverford education, could be facing cuts. Unfortunately, in the time when applicants need more aid, the school is not in a position to give it.

There have been no indications from the administration or the board of managers that financial aid will be changed, but there have not been any assurances that Haverford is still committed to it, either. Word from the powers that be will go a long way towards easing the minds of concerned students and parents.

Especially in this economic climate, financial aid should be the single untouchable budget item. Students who are academically qualified to attend Haverford should not be held back by their finances. Nothing is more important to the mission of the college than providing generous aid to the applicants who need it.

Every effort must also be made to ensure that current students can afford to continue their education, even if financial circumstances back home change. Few families are escaping from the crisis unscathed, and many will need to have their financial aid packages changed in order to stay at Haverford.

Again, there is no indication from the administration that financial aid packages won’t be increased for students who need them, but assurances would be nice.
If this means that other initiatives need to be scaled back, then so be it.

Haverford’s master plan is ambitious — and expensive. Expanding the facilities made sense when the College’s endowment was growing, but now maintaining the student body must take priority over maintaining the physical plant.

Likewise, Haverford’s expansive plan to add faculty (the Faculty Committee on Academic Enrichment) should take a back seat to keeping the school affordable. Searches already underway must be completed, but after that money should be targeted for student aid over faculty expansion.

If financial aid must be cut, then Haverford should first roll back its loan-free initiative. Going loan-free was a major coup for Haverford, earning the school praise from around the country, but it is meaningless if it could force us to offer less total aid to students.

The other aspect of Haverford’s financial aid — our status as a need-blind institution — should not even be on the table. Making sure every academically qualified student is granted admission is more than just a selling point; it gets to the core of the school’s identity.

Given the extent of the economic crisis, I realize that nothing in the budget is truly untouchable. I also do not pretend to know the specifics of Haverford’s budget. I do know, however, that Haverford’s financial aid policies are integral to its identity. In this time of need, the college should make every effort to preserve — or even increase — financial aid.


Believing:

I agree with the author that the college should make every effort to preserve financial aid because by this way, many people can get a chance to receive an education. There are people of lower income who cannot afford themselves to go to the university because of the high price of education. I think if the government makes investments in education of poor class, they will certainly pay their way in form of high qualified specialists who will make a contribution to the economy of the country later through investing their knowledge in it.


Doubting:

I think that financial aid should be cut off for those students who study longer and cannot fulfil the requirements of the program. If these students pay on their own, they will graduate on time. Moreover, their performance will increased since they are spending their own funds for education. This will raise the financial resources for higher education.