In 1985, Michigan State University’s Office of Financial Aid disbursed some $60 million in aid to about 12,000 students. Last year, MSU disbursed more than $530 million to more than 37,000 students, or nearly 73 percent of the student population.
“If I’m doing the math right, that’s an annual increase of 9.5 percent and, for the time period, an increase of nearly 783 percent,” said Rick Shipman, director of the financial aid office.
It’s been 45 years since the office’s beginnings in 1964. Since then, it has established itself as one of the top units of its kind in the country, deftly adjusting to the needs of MSU students and their families.Z
Some of more recent programs include:
* The Disabled Veterans Assistance Program, which covers all education-related costs, including tuition, fees, room and board, books and other incidentals for disabled vets.
* The Adverse Economic Circumstances Fund which can be used by students and their families who have suffered serious financial setbacks due to the loss of income during tough economic times.
* The MSU Assistance Program that targets students whose family income exceeds the criteria for federal awards, such as Pell grants, but still demonstrate a substantial need.
* The Spartan Advantage Program that ensures students have tuition, fees, room, board and books covered with a combination of work study and gift aid.
“The degree to which MSU has stepped up to the plate to address the various needs of students is very admirable,” Shipman said. “The growth of the MSU aid programs exceeds the growth in the state and federal aid programs during this time period and also exceeds the growth in tuition. It really is proof of MSU’s stated commitment to needy students.”
The growth of the office closely followed the increase of federal student aid programs. In 1958, the U.S. Congress created the National Defense Student Loan Program which provided low-cost loans with generous forgiveness provisions to students in math, science, foreign language and teacher education programs. Today this is known as the Federal Perkins Loan Program, named for the late U.S. Rep. Carl D. Perkins who championed the program while in Congress.
About 1964, MSU assigned a person to head up the university’s financial aid initiative. That person was Henry Dykema who also served as a religious adviser in the Dean of Student’s Office. He hired one full-time secretary to help out.
In 1965, these programs were supplemented by the Higher Education Act’s Equal Opportunity Grant and TRIO programs. This grant is now the Federal Pell Grant and provides gift assistance to the neediest students while the TRIO programs provide funding for student support services that are geared toward ensuring the academic success of disadvantaged students. In 1968, the loans which today are called Federal Stafford Loans were created and in 1980 parents became eligible to borrow federal loans under the Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students program.
Throughout the 1960s, the staffing continued to increase in the financial aid office as the programs and dollars increased and more students began to qualify for these funds. There was little computer support and much paper processing required to verify an applicant’s eligibility, certify loans and transfer dollars to the student’s account.
By the mid-1970’s, MSU consolidated the responsibility for scholarship administration by transferring scholarship renewals from the Office of Admissions and Scholarships to the office.
Institutional aid programs also were growing quite rapidly at this time. The first automated financial aid delivery systems were introduced in the 1970s and MSU began to take advantage of them to speed up the processing of applications and posting of payments to student accounts. By the end of that decade, the automated systems were quite complex and advanced.
Today the office employs 42 full-time staff, plus several students. The OFA’s primary office is located in the Student Services Building which was the original office location. There also is a secondary office in the Hannah Administration Building and part-time branches in Fee Hall and the Secchia Center in Grand Rapids.
For more information on MSU’s Office of Financial Aid, please visit the Web at http://www.finaid.msu.edu.
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