Tuesday, September 9, 2014

U of I Board expected to OK more need based financial aid

The University of Illinois Board of Trustees is expected to approve more need-based financial aid than it does now by adopting a more flexible funding formula.

The university’s institutional aid is the money it gets mostly from student tuition that flows into need-based financial aid for students who cannot afford to pay full tuition.

The institutional aid has exceeded the amount that the university gets in either state or federal financial aid since the 2013 academic year. The most recent data available show that, in 2015, the university’s institutional-based financial aid is budgeted at $83.9 million, while state Monetary Award Program funding is estimated at $61.3 million and federal Pell Grant funding at $72.7 million.

That would mean a total of $217.9 million in fiscal year 2014 would be awarded to 26,000 undergraduate students on the university’s three campuses.

The amount of institutional need-based financial aid for fiscal year 2015 is estimated at $45 million at UI-UC, $38.5 million at UIC and $250,000 at UIS.

The article was featured in the Chicago Sun-Times on September 9.

Read the article online