The Eastern Michigan University Board of Regents authorized a new $38 million financial aid plan at their Oct. 30 meeting. The money will go towards scholarships and awards for current EMU students as well as incoming freshmen.
The financial plan passed is an estimate of the funds needed for the 2013-14 fiscal year. The final plans will be officially approved at the Board of Regents meeting in June.
“In building the general fund budget, we will incorporate what the financial aid budget needs to be,” said John Lumm, EMU’s chief financial officer. “It should be close to the authorization we received.”
The plan is to increase the budget by $2.6 million from the 2012-13 fiscal year. Compared to last year’s budget, some scholarships will be untouched, some scholarships will be cut completely and others will be given more funding.
EMU student Jillian Reed was disappointed with the budget changes.
“[The 2013 financial plan] is more geared for the people coming in rather than the people who are still here,” she said.
The proposal includes $25.9 million for scholarships, awards and grants; $7 million for athletic grants-in-aid; $650,000 for federal and state matches and $4.4 million in graduate aid.
Scholarships potentially affected are the university grants, which could be cut by about $1.4 million, the transfer scholarships, which could be cut by $400,000, the work study awards, which could be cut by $373,000; and campus housing awards, which could be reduced by $225,000.
Sarah Monks, an EMU senior majoring in urban and regional planning, also disagreed with the cuts.
“Cutting work study could hurt the university in the long run because students won’t have the opportunity to work side by side with educators, when many are coming to school to be educators themselves,” she said.
EMU sophomore Phil Elugbemi was also upset with the cuts to work study.
“I’d say it’s not good to cut work study because there are students who need it,” he said.
Two scholarships were cut completely: the National Scholars Program Provisional, which was awarded to 40 students last year, and the International Partnership Award Provisional, which was awarded to 60 students last year.
Scholarships that would be increased include the Emerald Scholarship, by about $5.9 million; the Educational First Opportunity Scholarship by $100,000; the Women’s Athletic Award by $50,000 and the Men’s Athletic Award by $60,000.
EMU student Colton Arnett said the increases will help students.
“Good for them. Helping the most they can is good, because college is expensive,” he said.
Another award, the TRUEMU Scholarship, will be offered at EMU next year. The scholarship will be awarded to students interested in different areas of study.
EMU student Tammy Flowers said, “I think it’s a good thing there is money being offered to freshmen, because a lot of people who don’t get government aid or help from their parents would not continue their education.”
EMU President Susan Martin said in a statement, “The university and the Board of Regents strongly believe in supporting our students and helping them reach their academic and career goals. Our continuing and dramatic increases in student aid highlight the university’s significant financial investment in our students’ success. This will remain a priority for Eastern.”
EMU continues to be a number one public Michigan university when it comes to keeping prices down, having only increased by $32 per undergraduate credit hour in the past four years.
