Grad school has less for _¶ nancial aid

The Graduate School overspent $3.5 million this year a mistake that will force the school to offer less student financial aid for the next five years.

The discrepancy occurred when the Graduate School underestimated the number of students who would apply for tuition remissions a type of financial aid awarded to out-of-state students that reduces their tuition to in-state levels.

In the 2007-08 school year the Graduate School distributed about $17.3 million in tuition remissions" and it based this year's budget on that number.

But the Graduate School ended up spending about 20 percent more — making up the $3.5 million loss.

""We went to the budget committee and asked them for help"" Graduate School Dean Steve Matson said.

The UNC system awarded the school some money to cover the difference, and an unexpected grant from a private donor in November accounted for the rest.

But in exchange for money from the system, Matson said the school now will have to reduce the amount of student aid over the next five years to the lower levels distributed before this year.

He said at last week's Board of Trustees meeting that the financial shortfall arose for two different reasons.

UNC enrolled 8,275 graduate students this year, about a 2 percent increase from last year — increasing the number eligible for tuition remissions.

Matson also said the school better publicized the availability of tuition remission money.

In years past, the school ended up with a surplus of aid, Matson said. The program ran out of money when more students applied for the tuition support.

Adding to the problem, out-of-state graduate tuition increased more than in-state graduate tuition last year, Matson said.

In response to the budget issue, the Graduate School now has a representative on the Tuition and Fee Advisory Task Force to try to ensure that in-state and out-of-state tuition increase at the same rate in the future.

Trustee Rusty Carter said in an e-mail that he would like everyone to have a better understanding of how graduate students are funded, and why more money is needed to support them.

The irony is that the funding needed to transform grad student award packages is really quite small relative to most University agendas" while the return is enormous" he said.

We must create a comprehensive understanding of how this works and how the benefit flows to our critical needs in such a direct pathway.""

Sandi Chapman" a second-year doctoral candidate in political science" said she hopes the University does not choose to accept fewer graduate students because of such financial concerns.

""How the University chooses to deal with a funding shortfall for graduate students will have an impact on the quality of instruction and the value of advanced degree programs at UNC" she said.



Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.