Financial aid focuses on merit
Need-base aid still second

By Carrie Woodall
Staff Reporter

TCU accepts students regardless of financial backgrounds, despite recent national reports about needy students having difficulty entering higher education, said Mike Scott, director of financial aid and student scholarships.

The federal government, states and colleges have shifted attention away from need-based aid to enhancing programs designed to make higher education more affordable to middle class students, according to a report released by the Congressional Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance.

Scott said on the national level this is true, but TCU has tried to reverse that trend.

“I think TCU has tried to keep a balance, but on a national level, more institutional aid is geared towards merit awards,” he said.

Approximately 52 percent of the financial aid budget at TCU is designated as merit-based aid. Approximately 30 percent is designated to need-based aid. The additional 18 percent of the budget is used for programs such as fine arts, ROTC and study abroad.According to advisory committee, nationally since 1993, financing for merit programs have increased by 335 percent, while money for need-based aid has increased by 88 percent.

“A key point is that all aid from federal and state sources is need based,” he said. “When you add that to the institutional aid, the majority of dollars go to meeting need.”

Scott said there are a lot of students here on financial aid or seeking financial aid.

“There’s that assumption that everyone here is rich, and that just couldn’t be further from the truth,” he said. “If students qualify and apply on time, they do receive some sort of funding.”

However, Scott said if a student doesn’t apply by the deadline, the university cannot guarantee there will be any funds available.
Scott said need-based aid could only be increased if the government increases funding or if tuition is increased.

Ray Brown, dean of admissions, said scholarships are nice, but need-based aid is more important.

“Every dollar put toward merit awards is a dollar taken away from need aid,” Brown said. “I think if families have the ability to pay, they should pay. If they don’t have the ability, we should help them.”

Scott said an average student, with full need and good grades can receive up to $9,700 in grant money a year, not including merit aid. The yearly cost to attend TCU is nearly $20,000, so the student would receive almost half the cost in free money.

“There are very few schools that can meet the full need of students,” he said. “If a school meets (full) need with grant money, that almost always means they take (financial status) into consideration when admitting (a student) because they can only do that for so many people.”

However, Scott said Princeton University has now guaranteed to meet its students’ needs through grant money. Scott said the university does not look at financial status in admissions.

Brown said knowing that Princeton is offering such a good deal means that other universities will be affected.

“There will be a trickle effect on all schools,” he said. “Princeton is well endowed and can provide more aid.”

Brown said TCU is also a need-blind school that does not look at the financial need of a student upon acceptance.

“It doesn’t matter how a student can pay for their education (at TCU),” he said.

Brown said the reality is that there probably will not be a time when need-based aid exceeds merit-based aid.

Carrie Woodall
c.d.woodall@student.tcu.edu