Junior Kira Couch, like many students at St. Edward’s University, has noticed a significant decline in the amount of financial aid she received this year compared to last year.

“Based on what was available for the Dean’s Scholarship—and my academic performance—the Student Financial Services Office tried to provide me with other scholarships to fund my junior year.” Couch said. “I did not get that help this year.”

Couch said that she has seen a 38 percent reduction in her Dean’s Scholarship since last year, and the rest of her federal aid has decreased as well.

“Even though my family had a decrease in income this past year, I did not see an increase in the federal grants,” Couch said. “The decrease in my Dean’s Scholarship definitely didn’t help.”

The St. Edward’s budget for student financial aid, which covers total financial aid given to students by the university, independent of government entities, saw a slight increase.

The student financial aid budget for the 2010-2011 academic year is $31.3 million. St. Edward’s spent $29.5 million in the 2009-2010 academic year, $25.2 million in 2008-2009, $21.7 million in 2007-2008 and $17.6 million in 2006-2007 on financial aid.

The budget for student financial aid this year is $1.8 million more than the amount spent in 2009-2010; however, that number is much smaller than the average increase of $3.97 million per year since 2006. Considering increased enrollment and tuition, these statistics show that St. Edward’s is using a smaller increase to aid a student body, whose size and tuition are increasing.

This includes a dip in the Dean’s Scholarship, which has left students puzzled.

“My Dean’s Scholarship significantly decreased since last year, and I’m not really sure why since I didn’t switch majors and my GPA didn’t change,” junior Michael McNally said.

As members of the largest ever freshmen class with the highest tuition in St. Edward’s history move into their sophomore years, they became eligible for Dean’s Scholarships. The budget for the scholarships has to account for more students with higher tuition costs.

McNally said that he wasn’t sure why his Dean’s Scholarship had decreased, but he said that he hoped it wasn’t due to financial troubles.

“If the reason for decreases in scholarships for students is due to the financial troubles of the university, I don’t think it’s fair for them to take that money away from the students,” McNally said. “They shouldn’t cut from the financial aid; they should cut from other places first.”

Student Financial Services provided the budget information but did not respond to requests for comment.

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