Well, ladies and gentlemen, Midwestern State’s Summer I term has now ended. It’s about time.
One thing that bothers me about attending school here this summer is the financial impact it has. I just cut the check for the $825 Summer II tuition payment. Financial aid programs need to do a better job of working with the students. I couldn’t get financial aid of any kind at MSU because I was drawing grants and whatnot at UT during the school year. At least, that is what I was told from MSU Financial Aid’s office.
The point of financial aid is to help students get through school who have the ability but just not all of the means. If a student, say his name is Brandon and is from Wichita Falls determined that it would be cheaper for him to attend another school during the summer. Well, that is all fine and dandy except I hope he isn’t expecting any grants or whatnot. The way the system works, it would be better for me to operate a second household (the one in Wichita Falls and the one in Austin) and attend a school that costs more.
I just don’t get it.
Why couldn’t they combine the cost of the program- in this case just tuition and books for the second summer school and the cost of the program for the Fall/Spring program at the first school. The student would be awarded funds based on the same criteria that exists now. Grants that are school-based, like campus presidential scholarships and whatnot, would only be allocated for the terms the student is in session there. Grants that are national or state, like the Pell Grant or the TEXAS Grant could be assigned to both schools, of course, dependent on financial need.
Call me crazy, but that might just be a good idea. Don’t be afraid to use the Comment option below to tell me why that won’t work or what would make the idea better.
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