Colleges and universities love to try and lure new students to apply by advertising false hopes of acquiring financial aid.
However, this aid is not as easy to obtain as is often portrayed. Although our own University awards $330 million to students each year, I cannot help but think about how much of this money goes toward loans rather than scholarships.
Scholarships are so important for students. College is a stepping stone for them to enter the real world, and no one should have to enter the real world with thousands of dollars’ worth of debt. Universities entice prospective freshmen by promising all this aid. So many students fall for this trap, myself included.
I come from a middle-class household, so I don’t qualify for federal grants. In three semesters at the University, I have made the President’s Honor Roll and Dean’s List. In addition to that, I am involved in other extracurricular activities and campus organizations. Still, I feel the amount of financial aid I receive does not accurately reflect my academic accomplishments.
All the University offers me is $4,131.49 in TOPS and a $250 scholarship each semester. The remainder of my fee bill is an out-of-pocket cost my parents can barely afford to cover.
Scholarships are not as plentiful as people think. If they were, the national student loan debt would have never reached $1.6 trillion. Loans and scholarships/grants are two different types of aid that should be specified when the University talks about its financial aid efforts.
Loans are easier to come across than scholarships are, but it should be the other way around. Loan offices and even the federal government prefer to put students in debt rather than give them a boost to help pay for education.
One of my friends reached over $40,000 in student loans during freshman year. Imagine how many fellow students face the same situation. How can our administration continue to let this happen?
The University also has strict scholarship retention policies and should work more with students who fall behind in GPA requirements instead of taking their scholarships away.
In addition, the University needs to make more scholarships available for students overall. Some students work multiple jobs to pay for college because they can’t obtain scholarships to cover the costs. There are so many types of students that need to be accommodated, but the University only cares about our money — not our financial struggles.
Students need real aid, not just loans. The façade of misleading financial aid offers is tiring and not helpful. Do not listen to universities that flash their promises in your face. Trust me, I should know.
Tamia Southall is a 19-year-old mass communication sophomore from New Orleans.
