College students and graduates from around the country continue to struggle with student debt, with 43.4 million Americans dealing with some amount of debt, according to a 2022 report by educationdata.org. The total student debt in America is $1.75 trillion and is growing 6 times faster than the U.S. economy.
According to Matthew Stokan, the director of financial aid at Waynesburg University, one problem is the disconnect between rising costs and static aid programs from the federal government. He says that Waynesburg is not immune to this issue.
“We are lucky here at Waynesburg because the President makes a concerted effort to keep costs as low as possible, but the reality is they do go up some,” he said.
The majority of student loans come from the federal government, but there are some limitations on how much a student can borrow, Stokan said.
First-year students may borrow up to $5,500, second-year students can borrow $6,500 and third and fourth-year students can borrow up to $6,500.
He said that this presents issues for students who need more than four years to finish their degrees because the aggregate limit is $31,000, leaving students who study for more than four years only $4,000 left.
Stokan said that he considers student and parent loans as a “last resort,” but has seen an increased number over the past year.
“What you have is a financial gap between the student’s costs, the aid that they receive, whether that be state, federal or institutional aid and the loans they take out, there is still a gap so there’s been a proliferation of what they call alternative or private loans,” he said.
For students at Waynesburg University, there are some scholarships that can be used instead of loans. Waynesburg offers several loans to students, ranging from the $16,000 A.B. Miller scholarship to the $6,000 opportunity scholarship, which Stokan says is the minimum offered to students.
“Any student that is admitted to the university in one of our traditional programs, the bare minimum is they get what we call the opportunity award,” he said.
There are also state and federal grant programs that don’t need to be paid back as well. The most important one is the Federal Pell grant.
“The foundation of all financial aid is the federal pell grant. It’s based on the results of your application for federal student aid, and it’s dictated by what they call the EFC, which is the acronym for Expected Family Contribution,” he said. “That EFC number is a guideline number used by financial aid administrators to determine what kinds of programs students are eligible to participate in.”
The federal government also offers aid through the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant. According to studentaid.gov, the grant is administered “directly by the financial aid office at each participating school.” According to Stokan, students at Waynesburg receive $200 a year.
The state of Pennsylvania also offers a grant to students, and Stokan said that the majority of the students at Waynesburg that receive the grant receive the maximum of $5,000.
According to Stokan, the financial aid office processes $35 million in financial aid per year, $16 million of which comes in institutional aid.
Stokan said that his office is always open to students who need assistance with their finances.
“My goal, and really the goal of this office, is that no student should have to leave the university for financial reasons. That’s the idea, that’s the goal,” he said. “Nine times out of 10 we are able to make something work.”