by Araceli Esparza
Editorial Assistant
The latest information from Student Aid Report (SAR) results was recently released by the state of California, and shows that free financial assistance for college students is lacking.
Despite improvements in the state’s economic system, results of the report found that parents and students are utilizing a greater percentage of their income to pay for a college education. Simultaneously, the rate at which loans are borrowed has also increased, according to “California Trends in Student Aid: 1990 to 1996.”
The report was completed by the College Board for the California Higher Education Policy Center in June, and is described as “the most comprehensive analysis of student aid in California in the 1990s.”
It raises policy issues about the cost and affordability of higher education, questions the role of financial aid in overall funding of college and raises questions about the role of the state and of institutions in providing student aid.
Lawrence Gladieux, one of the authors of the report, admitted that California colleges and universities are less affordable today than they were in the past.
“Without a stronger financial commitment from the state to its neediest students, California will continue down the path of becoming a high-tuition/high-debt state, leaving thousands of California’s poorer students shut out of a college education,” Gladieux stated in the report.
It was also found that, in constant dollars from the 1990-91 to 1995-96 academic years, tuition at independent non-profit institutions such as the University of La Verne rose about 12 percent.
“The report is certainly something we’d like to look at for the University of La Verne,” said Adeline Cardenas-Clague, dean of enrollment services for the University.
From her knowledge, the report was something she was not aware existed. “I would like to investigate further to see if the same trend applies to us,” she said.
According to information from “California Trends in Student Aid,” the state’s federal loan volume doubled between the 1990-91 academic year, going from $1.3 billion to $2.6 billion. Federal and state grant assistance grew less than 30 percent during that time, declining from 28 percent of total aid to 21 percent.
In accordance with total financial aid available to the average college student, the largest federal loan program is the Stafford loan program. This program is applicable to a student’s financial account as either subsidized, meaning the government pays interest accrued on the loan while the student is in college, or unsubsidized, whereas the government does not pay the additional interest to the loan.
It was discovered that from 1995-96, the average amount of the Stafford loan, both subsidized and unsubsidized, totaled $6,516 at colleges such as ULV. This figure is a 10 percent increase since the 1990-91 academic year.
Another means of financial assistance includes the Cal Grant program, which was put into effect as a way of promoting student choice in attending private institutions. In relation to private institutions, the study noted that “non-profit institutions received 34 percent of total Cal Grant funding in 1995-96, down from 42 percent in 1990-91.”
Explaining the problem California faces with college education, Patrick M. Callan, executive director of The California Higher Education Policy Center, said, “California lacks a financial plan for higher education. Instead of developing a plan, the Governor and the Legislature continue to operate one year at a time, sometimes providing more money, sometimes less.”
The California Higher Education Policy Center is an organization which was created to “stimulate public awareness and discussion of issues affecting the future of higher education.” As student aid becomes a primary concern for California’s college education, reliable data collection and investigation is critical. The Center believes that it is important for California to maintain the output of such valuable information.
