Private colleges are likely to be less generous to applicants in spring 2010
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When the economy was in free fall early in 2009, officials at hundreds of private colleges felt a little panic: How would they find enough qualified students willing to fork over anything close to their sticker prices, which average $35,000 a year? (And that's before books, transportation, and other extras.) So they dramatically increased the amount of grants and scholarships they offered to students accepted into their classes of 2013.
John Strassburger, president of Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa., and president of the Council of Independent Colleges, a group of about 500 private colleges, says some financial aid officers now believe they went overboard last year. Now, as economists are beginning to identify signs of an economic rebound, many private college financial aid officers are planning to be a little stingier with aid offers to next fall's freshmen.
[Slide show: 8 Steps to Getting Cash for College]
That's creating a double whammy of bad news for anyone hoping for a scholarship. While the federal government raised the maximum Pell grant by $619 this year, and plans an additional $200 increase next year, that good news is being dwarfed by other looming cutbacks.
College aid officers are planning to ratchet back offers under the belief that families can afford more than the colleges had estimated last year. And the improvements in the economy haven't yet benefited many state and charity budgets. In fact, budget-cutting states are raising tuition at public universities and, often, reducing scholarships. California undergrads have been protesting the University of California's plan to raise student fees by about 32 percent, or about $2,000, over the next year, for example. And Michigan lawmakers are debating whether to eliminate that state's Promise scholarships of up to $4,000.
All this means many of next year's crop of incoming freshmen, especially those who are not spectacular students, will most likely have to pay a little more to attend colleges such as Ursinus.
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