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| University of Virginia |
Last week the University of Virginia quietly introduced huge changes in how AccessUVa, one of the most successful and highly-acclaimed
financial aid programs in the country, will support extremely low-income
students.
Beginning in the fall of 2014, financial aid packages offered
by the university will contain loans as part of the comprehensive aid provided to
all students with need—regardless of income level.
“Our commitment remains ensuring access to the University of
Virginia for the best students, regardless of their financial
challenges,” UVa President
Teresa A. Sullivan said. “At the same time, we have an obligation to
responsibly manage limited resources. These adjustments to the AccessUVa
program provide the balance needed to accomplish both goals.”
According to a press release from UVa, the addition of loans for low income students will standardize how UVa administers
its aid program to all recipients. As proposed, the
new money-saving policy will be phased in by class over four academic years and
will not affect any current student receiving aid.
Started in 2004, AccessUVa covered all expenses for those
whose families have incomes at levels up to twice the federal poverty rate or
$23,550 for a family of four. In other
words, full-ride scholarships were provided to students with family incomes of
slightly over $47,000.
Until now, students supported by AccessUVa have not had to borrow.
The policy
change passed by the UVa Board of Overseers not only represents a major increase in the cost of a UVa education for some families, it will also likely result in a reduction in the number of
low-income students willing to assume this level of debt.
But to provide some limits, loans will be capped at $28,000—well
more than double the average debt incurred by UVa students over four years.
During the first year of AccessUVa, the university spent
about $11.5 million supporting the program. Ten years and a bad economy later, the commitment rose to
$40.2 million.
At the same time, the percentage of low-income undergrads
attending UVa has risen from 6.5 to 8.9 percent—numbers suggesting a
highly successful program that has been lauded in hundreds of press releases
sent out by the university’s public relations operation.
And not surprisingly, the new loans are being met with disappointment.
"I can say with absolute certainty that I would not be
in the place I am today without Access UVA, because its all-grant aid package
provided me a chance to overcome any limitations solely attributable to
financial circumstance," wrote Thomas Madrecki, a 2010 graduate in a
column for the Cavalier Daily.
When
questioned about the addition of loans to financial aid packages for low-income
students, Greg Roberts, UVa dean of admissions, defended the decision by pointing
out that most universities meet need with a combination of loans and
grants. AccessUVa’s policy was generous,
he conceded, and the change would just bring the university in line with
others.
“This is how it’s done throughout
higher education,” he said.
In fact UVa joins a growing list of
schools, including Claremont McKenna College, Yale, Cornell and the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, that offered grant-only aid packages to
their lowest-income students, only to roll the policy back.
And for many who are working hard
to open doors for the least fortunate among us, that’s too bad.
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