College leaders are worried their institutions will be shortchanged under a major shift in the way Colorado hands out financial aid that was approved Thursday, but state officials maintain the new system is fair.
The new formula by the Colorado Commission on Higher Education sets up a stipend for the state’s neediest students, showing them up front how much of their tuition bill the state will pay.
It is intended to make sure every student who is eligible for state aid gets the money.
In the past, colleges received a lump sum based on the financial need of the student body and divided it up themselves.
But a commission study showed only about one-third of Colorado students eligible for state financial aid were receiving it.
“Our goal is to get all of the information out there and bring as much certainty to the process as we can so that students do see that pathway to college,” said Jenna Langer, executive director of the higher education commission.
With the new stipend, community colleges would receive $790 a year for every student in the commission’s lowest income bracket.
Four-year state colleges, such as Western State and Mesa State, would get $965 a student. And the state’s research universities would receive $1,057.
The stipend amounts are contingent on a $5.3 million increase in financial aid the commission is requesting from the legislature.
Several college leaders are opposed to the three-tier system, calling it unfair.
Community college leaders argue the formula benefits large universities, and Colorado’s 13 community college system will lose out on $1.6 million next year.
The new formula will hurt the state’s most at-risk students and “cheapen the value of a community college degree,” said Nancy McCallin, president of the Colorado Community College System.
University of Colorado leaders don’t like it either.
Instead of being lumped into a category with all research universities, CU should get the financial aid based on the number of students who need it and the cost of an education at CU, said John Cooney, an associate vice president.
“What ends up happening is that there is an overestimate of the need in some schools and an underestimate in other schools,” he said.
Colorado School of Mines, which has the highest tuition, will get a smaller percentage of the costs covered than will a student at the University of Northern Colorado, where the cost of an education is lower, Cooney said.
Langer said the model is equitable. The policy is transparent and will demystify college affordability for high school students and their families, she said.
The stipend is transferable to other institutions and ensures that poor students don’t miss out on state aid by applying late, she said.
The formula is modeled after the College Opportunity Fund, which provides $2,580 for every in-state college student regardless of financial need.
The higher education commission has been studying the financial aid system for more than a year.
It found that in 2005, 44,278 of the 70,583 students eligible for state aid never got any because it had gone to students who applied earlier.
Staff writer Jennifer Brown can be reached at 303-954-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com.
