Nearly a fourth of Georgetown’s students may lose their Federal Perkins loans while paying the 6.2 percent increase in tuition approved by the Board of Directors last week. According to President John J. DeGioia’s Assistant for Federal Relations Scott Fleming, the Bush administration’s proposal to decrease federal aid to universities around the nation may create financial difficulties for Georgetown, which already struggles to meet the needs of its students with the federal aid it currently receives.
In the University’s fiscal year 2006 financial plan and budget, Provost James O’Donnell, however, stated that the increase is necessary to maintain Georgetown’s tradition of academic distinction-one that makes it possible for students of all financial status to attend.
“A 6.2 percent increase supports a budget that allows us to make faculty salaries more competitive, to offer financial aid so that Georgetown is accessible to all students and to provide facilities that give our faculty and students the space and opportunity to achieve ambitiously,” O’Donnell said.
Despite O’Donnell’s reassurances that the University will now have a larger pool from which to draw aid, he did not discuss the ways in which the University intends to make up for the corollary decrease in federal aid.
If Bush’s proposal is passed, Georgetown will need to replace the money lost from elimination of Perkins loans. According to Fleming, the Bush plan seeks to re-budget these funds toward increasing the maximum amount awarded in Pell Grants, also federal aid.
“Eliminating Perkins loans in exchange for a $100-or even a $500 over 5 years-increase in the maximum Pell Grant does not add up in terms of helping students cover the costs of their education,” Fleming said.
Fleming added that the University is currently considering options to cope with the potential shortfall in Perkins loans.
“I would clarify that details of the proposal to end the Perkins loan program have not been laid out,” he said. “At this point, we have proposals about how to deal with the situation, and we are going to be working hard to see that the Perkins Loan program is not ended as the President’s budget proposes.”
Fleming credits Georgetown with previously finding solutions to decreases in other areas of aid such as Federal Work Study.
“Even as our Federal Work Study allocation has dropped significantly over the last three years, we have addressed the change by adjusting the financial aid formula from 75 percent work study and 25 percent grant to 60 percent work study and 40 percent grant,” he said. “We’ve stretched those dollars. In effect, we are matching the federal funds considerably beyond what the program requires.”
Financial aid offices at other universities demonstrate more worry than Georgetown at the prospect of losing Perkins loans.
In an article in the Boston Globe, Northeastern University Dean of Financial Aid Seamus Harrey paints a bleak picture of the results of losing federal aid.
“Removing the Perkins is at best a zero sum game, and at worst, it’s a pretty significant negative on our ability to retain our students and our students’ ability to pay for college,” he said.
