First-year students are told that if they work hard for four years, they will be allowed to underload second semester senior year and take fewer hours than required of other full-time students.
But for some seniors on financial aid, underloading would compromise their status as full-time students and thus jeopardize their eligibility for financial aid.
For good reason, UNC’s financial aid policy requires that students be enrolled full-time if they are to qualify for financial aid.
But if all other second-semester seniors are afforded an exception to usual university policy, the financial aid policy should be updated to reflect this exception.
Ensuring aid for full-time students is and should be the financial aid office’s first priority. But it is doing a disservice to some hardworking students by depriving them of this senior privilege.
Needy seniors looking to lighten their load as they approach graduation should be rewarded for their hard work in the same ways as their peers who pay full tuition.
It makes little sense to require seniors on financial aid to take 12 hours just for the sake of maintaining full-time status.
Since all seniors have enrollment priority, these seniors could very well be taking spots in classes that would otherwise be filled by underclassmen who need the class to progress in their major.
Providing financial aid and following through on UNC’s commitment to meet 100 percent demonstrated need is undoubtedly complicated. But every institution and process can improve and more should be done at UNC to avoid institutionalized disadvantage.
