OSU offers need and merit based financial aid to offset the cost of attendance. Make sure that you complete the FAFSA and put OSU’s school code down. Additionally, you will want to apply to OSU by Feb. 1st and complete the scholarship application.

OSU Director of financial Aid and Director of Enrollment launching a new campaign call
“Bridge to Sucess” which will cover a full paid tuition
for 1500 students for the next school year. However, I been doing some analysis for one
freshmen this year compare to a freshmen next year after the this campaign.

I don’t have much in the way of facts, except what I’ve observed with individual awards.
I’m comparing awards for freshmen during 2007-08 with incoming freshmen for 2008-09.

Here’s an award for a typical high need freshman for this year:
4310 Pell
1752 Oregon Opportunity Grant
2400 Perkins Loan
2000 workstudy
1000 supplemental tuition grant
1100 supplemental educational Opportunity grant
3500 Ford loan
******$1320 parent loan*****(This is what they have to borrow this year)

17382 total = typical cost of attendance

Here’s an award for a typical high need freshman for next year:
4731 Pell
3200 Oregon Opportunity Grant
1500 workstudy
3500 Ford loan
******$5378 parent loan*****(This is what they have to borrow after the campaign)

18309 total = typical cost of attendance

Note the higher amounts of Pell and particularly Oregon Opportunity Grant for next year.
This student has tuition and fees covered and that’s what the Bridge to Success Program
is designed to do. However, none of this aid is out of OSU’s campus based programs. The
Supplemental Tuition Grant and the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants this
year’s freshman received are OSU campus based programs. Next year’s freshman doesn’t
receive this unless their combined Pell and Opportunity grants are less than $6123, and
then they only receive enough to make up the difference between these grants and the
$6123, which is the estimated cost of tuition and fees for next year. The end result is
that no matter the students eligibility for these grants, the parent loans are very high.

I have heard that the amount of Perkins loans OSU has available is greatly dimished and
are available only for juniors or seniors next year, so that explains $2400 of the
problem. And it looks like they’re trying to avoid running out of workstudy by lowering
the awards from $2000 to $1500, accounting for another $500 of the problem. And the cost
of attendance increased by $927. Altogether, these unavoidable problems amount to $3827.
But the Pell and Opportunity grants increased by a combined $1869, so there should have
only been an increase of $1958 of the Parent Loan, which would have been completely
erased by the new increase in the Ford loans.

So what’s missing? The combined total in Supplemental Tuition Grants and Supplemental
Educational Opportunity Grants of $2100. Where did these grants go? That’s the
pertinent question to ask.

Here’s one possibility I’ve been speculating on: a student is eligible for a $400 Pell
Grant and no Oregon Opporunity Grant, which means they need an additional $5723 in OSU
based grants to cover tuition and fees. Is that where it all went? It’s possible.
Which essentially means they’ve sacrificed the very high need students, students whose
family income is under $25,000, to the students whose eligibility for Pell is borderline.
Not that borderline Pell eligible students aren’t hurting. Hurting vs not able to come
here at all. Were they thinking?

Also, was there an increase in merit based scholarship awards? that’s another possible
explanation for where this money went. One student also told me there was a reduction of
these OSU based grants, but she wasn’t at all clear on it.

Do we really need this Program after all?

I have to validate actions such as these.

In the US, public and private institutions receive federal financial aid money so that they can offset the cost of higher education for their students. Usually, universities are able to offset some cost but students in many cases have to take out loans to complete their financial package. In this case, OSU is taking money that it has raised and money it already is using for financial aid purposes and directing it towards our neediest students. This definitely won’t take away from other student who aren’t necessarily eligible for the total aid package described here but it will allow our highest need students to get a leg up.

Thanks for your comment!

Regards from Germany,
Marcel

I feel that, similar to the Pell program, these funds should be given to eligible students without any repayment clauses. Besides, most of the students who qualify for this program will already be receiving grants and loans (which they will have to repay). This program is apparently going to bridge the distance between the total financial aid (grants, loans, scholarships) that a student is receiving and the total cost of tuition/fees at OSU.

Kudos to all at OSU who are involved in this new endeavor.