As tuition rates rise during the next couple of years, University-awarded scholarships may decline.Because of the looming budget crisis, the Office of Academic Affairs has prepared a list of scholarships facing elimination or reduction in the next fiscal year.The proposed scholarship adjustments eliminates 13 scholarships, changes seven and creates one new award.The changes were approved June 4 at the Board of Supervisors meeting but will not affect current students’ scholarships. Any student who is currently enrolled at the University will not see a change in his or her scholarship amount unless he or she fails to meet the requirements for the scholarship.Stacia Haynie, vice provost for Academic Affairs, said reducing or eliminating the scholarship programs will save the University about $12 million next year. Incoming freshmen will not receive the same awards as current students — the next class will see fewer scholarships.Despite the scholarship program savings, the University will have to pay more in financial aid during the next few years to accommodate the increases in tuition for the LA GRAD Act, according to Robert Kuhn, associate vice chancellor for finance and administrative services.Last year, the University paid $35.4 million in scholarships and fellowships. The allotment increased to $51.4 million this year.Kuhn said next year’s projection for the financial aid budget will increase to more than $53 million. Kuhn said the projected increase in financial aid expenditures assumes a 10-percent tuition increase next year, which the University has committed to pay for in many students’ tuition exemptions.”LSU really tries to do the right thing even though it doesn’t seem that way,” Kuhn said. “When they make a commitment to someone, especially students, they do everything they can to make sure those commitments are met.”The increase in the financial aid budget will continue until fiscal year 2011-12 but will begin to decline in fiscal year 2012-13 and stabilize, Kuhn said.The University must continue to pay tuition exemptions for all current students until they graduate. After current students have graduated, the financial aid budget will start to decline to reflect the scholarship cuts.Haynie said the University is striving to find a balance between offering enough financial aid to attract good students while coping with budget reductions.”The goal is to use our resources to bring a strong freshman class and provide need-based support,” Haynie said.The University’s primary need-based scholarship, the Pelican Promise, will not change.”The philosophy I believe was everyone who wants to or has the desire to go to college should be able to do that and not be limited by their financial resources,” Kuhn said. Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Jack Hamilton agreed need-based aid is important.”Students who couldn’t go to school without help, that’s something we have to be very concerned about,” Hamilton said.One scholarship on the chopping block is Bengal Legacy, which provides a 75-percent fee exemption to children of LSU System graduates. No incoming freshmen in 2011 will receive the award.Political science junior Micah Elkins said it’s important to save the Bengal Legacy scholarship.”We need repeat customers,” Elkins said. “People will be concerned because it’s not only their college experience but their entire family’s.”Elkins is a nonresident student with no scholarship, so he “sympathizes with people who need the money.”For most Louisiana residents, financial aid hasn’t been a problem since the TOPS award was implemented in 1998. While tuition and required fees have changed, TOPS has evolved to cover the majority of tuition for the basic requirements.While attempts to cut TOPS failed this past legislative session, the state will continue to provide for the 95 percent of in-state students who receive TOPS, Kuhn said.”I think it’s a wonderful asset for students in Louisiana that others don’t have the privilege of receiving,” said Richard Koubek, dean of the College of Engineering. “And it allows a lot more of our students to graduate debt free.”Koubek recently accepted his position at the University after serving for seven years at Pennsylvania State University. He said LSU is different from Penn State in its funding in tuition, how much the University receives from the state and how many scholarships are awarded.Koubek said the University needs to strike the proper balance in its operating budget.”We need to figure it out without taking it away from the students,” Koubek said. “We’re trying to help the students and make it more accessible and not less accessible. It might be counterproductive to take the scholarship money away. That’s not a direction I think is wholesome.”Koubek said the University’s students are competitive among the best universities, and budget constraints are an opportunity for the University to “jump ahead.””We’re not alone in this fiscal constraint,” Koubek said. “If we’re really creative to figure it out, it’s one of those opportunities.”
 
 
 
____Contact Catherine Threlkeld at [email protected]