Aid game provides big challenges for some Big Ten members

By JASON ALT
Collegian Staff Writer

Ever since the induction of Penn State, numbers have been a source of humor for the 11 schools of the Big Ten.

But as tuition continues to rise at a rate faster than family income and even the cost of a new home, the number game has ceased to be a laughing matter for several schools in the Big Ten.

"I don't think there's any school that is in good financial aid shape," said Brenda Stearns, associate director of financial aid at Ohio State University. Like Penn State, Ohio State hopes to close the gap through a capital campaign that would raise outside funds to increase the pool of available financial aid.

"You can only use so much of the general fund," Stearns explained. "You still need to pay salaries. You need to keep the University running."

Insufficient aid money is a problem for Indiana University, where officials also plan to raise funds during the next five years. But concerns about whether the school will be able to keep up with rising costs worry Terrill Cosgray, associate director of the Office of Student Financial Assistance at Indiana University.

"Somehow people find a way to make it work," Cosgray said. "But there is going to come a point in time when people say, 'I don't think so; I'll just go out and get a job.' I don't know when that's going to be. Where the breaking point is, nobody can be able to say."

For now, however, Indiana is trying several measures to reduce underfunding of students. In one move, the campus examined its overall operating budget and identified about $3.5 million, which was then transferred to quadruple the amount of institutional grants awarded by the university.

Also, Indiana recently initiated the Matching Grants Program, an attempt to find a middle ground between merit and need without sacrificing recruiting and retention. Needy students who receive outside merit-based grants or scholarships also get additional financial aid money from Indiana as a reward.

"It's working so well that they're anticipating making a huge increase in the amount of money the institution allocates," Cosgray said.

As possible federal financial aid cuts are being discussed in Congress, some Big Ten schools share Penn State's concerns about negative, long-term effects.

"It's not going to devastate colleges, but it's certainly going to devastate students," explained Steve Van Ess, director of the Office of Student Financial Services at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. "The students just get stuck borrowing more. What that will do is just change the mix of our people. We'll just end up with more wealthier students."

But not every Big Ten school is feeling the financial aid crunch. Northwestern University, where tuition is more than $10,000 higher than the in-state cost at any other school in the conference, and the University of Iowa, which boasts the lowest tuition in the Big Ten, are in good shape -- but for very different reasons.

"We're not as bleak as others, but we'd like to do better. We're faring well," said Cathy Wilcox, associate director of the Office of Student Financial Aid at the University of Iowa. "Because we have our tuition rates -- especially for in-state students -- at such a low rate, we're not going to have as big an overall gap."

That low tuition could prove even more valuable if proposed federal aid cuts are passed.

"I think we would still get hurt by the whole process, but we might not get hit as hard as another school," Wilcox predicted.

Northwestern, on the other hand, is able to meet the demonstrated need of all undergraduates by doling out grant aid totaling an amount roughly equivalent to 25 percent of total tuition costs.

"We fill up that pot from rattling our cups and getting donors," said Rebecca Dixon, associate provost of university enrollment at Northwestern. "Financial aid is an expense, just like we pay salaries or shovel snow."

Meanwhile, the University of Minnesota is looking to offset rising costs by entering into agreements with corporations similar to those Penn State has with Pepsi and AT&T.

"We're training schools for big business here, and we've got to go out to the (corporations) . . . and say, 'Hey, you've got to give something back,' " said Sheryl Turner-Spivey, director of scholarship and financial aid for the University of Minnesota.