Student need differs from financial aid
The average aid needed by MU students is $6,000.
Published Nov. 8, 2005
A report released last month shows that the amount of financial aid received by millions of college students is not enough to cover their need for financial assistance.
The Department of Education's National Postsecondary Student Aid Survey analyzed data from college students at all income levels and in all types of post-secondary education institutions.
The report was released by the education think-tank, Postsecondary Education Opportunity. By using the NPSAS data from the most recent survey, the think-tank calculated that nationwide, the unmet financial need of college students is nearly $32 billion.
The disparity between need and assistance mainly affects middle- and lower-class families, the report stated. On average, those whose annual household income was $62,240 had an unmet need of $3,600 at public universities and those with an income of $34,288 had an unmet need of $4,689.
The Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance notes that about 170,000 high school seniors who are qualified to go on to college cannot because of the cost.
"These are students for whom unmet need proves to be too high a cost to assume," the committee stated in its report.
MU spokesman Christian Basi said the Financial Aid office offered approximately $51.8 million in need-based aid to 8,670 undergraduates for the 2004-05 academic year. The $51.8 million is not only from the university but also from federal and state governments.
Need-based aid comes in the form of scholarships, grants, loans and work-study jobs.
"MU uses the same method to determine need as almost every other college or university in the country," Basi said.
To receive aid, students and their parents fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form, which is sent to the federal government to calculate an expected family contribution. The result of subtracting the expected family contribution from expected tuition and fees is then considered the student's need.
The average amount of aid needed by undergraduate students at MU was just less than $6,000, whereas the average need-based financial aid package for students was just less than $5,600, Basi said.
However, the Postsecondary Education Opportunity report did not only fault colleges and universities.
According to its data, while college tuition and fees have risen over the past three years, Congress has failed to raise levels of funding or has cut funding altogether for federal grant programs.
Craig Kleine, chairman of the Board of Directors for the lobbying group Associated Students of the University of Missouri, said ASUM supports making financial aid more available to students.
"It is essential that the Pell Grant stays up with the inflationary cost so that students can continue to afford the rising cost of tuition," Kleine stated in an e-mail.
Kleine said ASUM's National Issues Director Jason Johnston has formulated a plan for ASUM to lobby legislators in Washington, D.C. In addition, lobbyists were in Washington, D.C., this past week to discuss higher education issues with legislators.
Kleine said ASUM also hired a full-time lobbyist to stay in the capitol next semester.