Financial Aid News 155: Amherst College faculty asking for financial aid reductions
Financial Aid News 155: Amherst College faculty asking for financial aid reductions
Student Financial Aid News
An exclusive sent to us by a friend of a student at Amherst College:
This was my day: A letter was circulated on the Amherst website, accessible only to faculty, which stated that in an “informal meeting” 55 of the faculty members (the majority of them senior, tenured, and white) concluded that the college needs to 1) decrease its percentage of students on fin aid (which is somehow not supposed to be getting rid of need-blind admissions), 2) abandon its policy of not giving loans to middle class students, and 3) get rid of need-blind admissions for international students. Then they say that this will in no way contradict Amherst’s stance on social justice/socioeconomic diversity, which sets it apart from the peer institutions they would have us emulate. And also that everyone needs to sacrifice in these hard times: the students receive less aid, pay the same for reduced service in the dining hall, and deal with fewer and less frequently updated housing options, the staff’s salaries are frozen indefinitely, anyone in a contract position isn’t renewed, and layoffs are imminent, and the faculty…well, I’m sure they’ve given up a lot too. Really.
The original letter in full is available on a student petition group on Facebook.
Commentary
As written, a fairly damning letter from the faculty, which made no mention of any necessary cutbacks for faculty positions. The full letter, while dry, is worth a read. The letter concludes with an interesting statement: “we could use the resulting savings to help maintain staff jobs and educational resources for all students” – in effect, diverting funding from student financial aid to avoid layoffs.
Difficult times abound, to be sure, but cutting student financial aid without proportional cuts across all departments – including faculty salaries – disproportionately increases the burden of a college education on the student.
Probably the most effective form of protest that students could undertake would be to contact alumni and donors of the college with the request that they specifically earmark all their planned donations for the coming year(s) for financial aid only, and specifically exclude capital projects or general funds. In that manner, the college would get a clear financial message from donors about what its priorities should be while not harming students or student financial aid.
From Bloomberg:
CIT Group Inc., the century-old lender that hasn’t been able to persuade the government to back its debt sales, says its demise would put 760 manufacturing clients at risk of failure and “precipitate a crisis” for as many as 300,000 retailers. CIT executives spoke with regulators during the past two days, according to a person familiar with the talks, after its bonds and shares tumbled on concern that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. won’t allow the lender into its bond-guarantee program created last year to unfreeze debt markets. CIT may default as soon as April, when a $2.1 billion credit line matures, according to Fitch Ratings.
Commentary
Among its holdings, CIT Group also holds the former Student Loan Xpress and Xpress Lending Servicing Center, two student loan entities that still have reasonably large portfolios. If you have loans with either entity, keep an eye on CIT and your mail for any significant changes to your student loans.
Scholarship Update
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