2008 Woodie Awards
It's time to increase the financial aid budget
Flyer Staff Editorial
Issue date: 10/9/05 Section: Opinions
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Anybody reading this article clearly knows the trials and tribulations of attending college. While worries about homework, exams, post-graduate ambitions, and social lives are common place among all college
students, at a working-class university like Lewis, one worry often takes center stage: the tight fi nancial crunch.
It's no secret that the cost of higher education in the United States continues to climb. In Illinois alone, the tuition and fees at private colleges have increased 70 percent over the past decade, according to
the Illinois Board of Higher Education.
While the state public schools have not seen that large of an increase, students are still getting hit hard in their pocket books.
In the past decade, the tuition and fees at these schools have doubled. It's a shame incomes can't rise this fast.
To pay for these burgeoning costs, more and more students and their families are applying for fi nancial aid and taking out
student loans. This year alone, the federal and state governments have supplied a record $122 billion in fi nancial aid, an 11 percent increase over last year's recordbreaking numbers, according to the College
Board, a non-for-profi t organization that helps provides students with resources about higher education.
The organization also points out that the amount of money being loaned to students to pay for their education also continues to increase.
While fi nancial aid and loans usually covers most of the costs of attending a two or four-year institution, there are some
disturbing trends forecasted that could seriously affect those who need aid.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, college graduates who took out student loans are, on average,
at least $10,000 in debt when they enter the workforce. As tuition and the recordnumber of students attending college nowadays, that number is expected to increase.
What's even worse is that while government dollars allocated to fi nancial aid is at an all-time high, students entering
students, at a working-class university like Lewis, one worry often takes center stage: the tight fi nancial crunch.
It's no secret that the cost of higher education in the United States continues to climb. In Illinois alone, the tuition and fees at private colleges have increased 70 percent over the past decade, according to
the Illinois Board of Higher Education.
While the state public schools have not seen that large of an increase, students are still getting hit hard in their pocket books.
In the past decade, the tuition and fees at these schools have doubled. It's a shame incomes can't rise this fast.
To pay for these burgeoning costs, more and more students and their families are applying for fi nancial aid and taking out
student loans. This year alone, the federal and state governments have supplied a record $122 billion in fi nancial aid, an 11 percent increase over last year's recordbreaking numbers, according to the College
Board, a non-for-profi t organization that helps provides students with resources about higher education.
The organization also points out that the amount of money being loaned to students to pay for their education also continues to increase.
While fi nancial aid and loans usually covers most of the costs of attending a two or four-year institution, there are some
disturbing trends forecasted that could seriously affect those who need aid.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, college graduates who took out student loans are, on average,
at least $10,000 in debt when they enter the workforce. As tuition and the recordnumber of students attending college nowadays, that number is expected to increase.
What's even worse is that while government dollars allocated to fi nancial aid is at an all-time high, students entering
