tradition of excellence and affordability
Can UC remain affordable?
BY CYNTHIA LEE
UCLA Today Staff
Among the nation’s 50 top universities as ranked by U.S.
News & World Report, UCLA had the largest proportion of undergraduates
receiving federal Pell Grants for students from low-income families
in 2001-02, according to a recent study.
The finding, released last month by a national newsletter that
focuses on access to higher education, demonstrates UCLA’s
commitment to maintain a pathway for low-income students, campus
administrators said. Recipients of Pell Grants come from families
that typically earn below $35,000 a year.
But keeping a UCLA education affordable is becoming increasingly
difficult, said Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Academic Services
Tom Lifka, as the UC regents look to raise student fees in response
to the state budget crisis. Also, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposes
to return proportionately less money from new fee increases to campuses
in the form of financial aid. In addition, he is proposing changes
to the Cal Grant state aid program that will result in a decrease
in available financial aid.
“Looking at the coming year, it’s likely that we’re
not going to be able to sustain the high level of student support
as we have in previous years,” Lifka said.
As for the federal Pell grants, it’s estimated that in 2004-05,
9,256 UCLA students, roughly one-third of undergraduates, will be
receiving them, said Ron Johnson, the campus’ financial aid
director. This year, the average Pell grant was $2,700.
For years, the University of California has been recognized as
a national leader in maintaining both excellence and economic accessibility.
According to the study by Tom Mortenson, a higher education policy
analyst, 35.1% of UCLA undergraduates received Pell Grants in 2001-02,
the year on which the study was based.
In his ranking of the top 50 best universities, UCLA was followed
by UC Berkeley, with 32.4%; UC Irvine, 31.5%; UC Davis, 28.5%; UC
San Diego, 28.3%; and UC Santa Barbara, 24.8%. Six UC campuses ranked
in the top spots nationwide for enrolling the highest percentage
of low-income students.
“These universities have demonstrated that institutional
excellence and commitment to enrolling students from low-income
families are mutually achievable,” said Mortenson in Postsecondary
Education Opportunity. “These universities put the poor records
of the best national universities in the rest of the country to
shame.”
Mortenson’s study offered no big surprises, said Lifka,
with an earlier report by the James Irvine Foundation and a subsequent
UC analysis showing the same results.
A number of factors helped keep UC accessible to low-income students,
Lifka said. In the 1990s, the state Legislature reduced fees while
simultaneously continuing to fund financial aid. The other factor
was the comprehensive review admissions process, which “takes
life challenges or economic disadvantages into account as a positive
factor,” Lifka explained.
Today, the erosion of financial aid is evident across the nation.
Mortensen said. Still, UC officials are not giving up. A UC delegation
of financial aid officials, including Johnson, was in Washington,
D.C., a week ago to lobby Congress for increased Pell Grant awards.
UC officials also are talking to the Schwarzenegger administration
about long-term financing of public higher education, a discussion
that includes financial aid.
Lifka believes a UCLA education is still a great bargain and urges
students who have been offered large grants by expensive private
universities to compare what their parents will have to pay over
the next four years.
“Because their (private universities’) costs are often
much higher to begin with, students will find that their families
will still have to come up with a great deal of money,” he
explained.
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