A proposal to cut public funding for students who attend private, four-year colleges has the area’s independent schools concerned about the impact on both students and their own finances. Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to cut public funding for students who attend private colleges could lead to tuition hikes next year, a reduction in programs or a less diverse student body, area universities warned. Gov. Brown has proposed sharp cuts to the Cal Grant program as part of his 2012-13 budget, which if passed would reduce state support to certain qualified California students who attend private schools by more than $4,000 per student. The cuts would save the state about $300 million a year. Today, financially qualifying and academically deserving students can receive a maximum award of $9,708 toward their private school tuition. The proposal would reduce that by 44 percent to $5,472, the same amount qualifying students receive to attend California state schools. The impact on Burbank-based Woodbury University would be about $1.2 million, said Don St. Clair, vice president, enrollment management and university marketing. About 300 Woodbury students — 25 percent of the student body — receive Cal Grants, he said. “We’re not sure how we’ll deal with it, but none of the scenarios are attractive,” said St. Clair. “We’re looking at budget cuts, or finding another source of revenue to offset the loss of these resources. Raising tuition is one consideration on the table.” The loss to California Lutheran University would amount to $1.8 million, administrators of the Thousand Oak-based college said. Of the school’s 2,700 undergraduates, 459 receive Cal Grant awards. A majority, 358, receive the full amount, said Matthew Ward, vice president of enrollment management and marketing. “It’s an unprecedented cut,” Ward said. Ward said Cal Lutheran can absorb the cuts and make up the loss to needy students next year. The question is how this will affect enrollment and aid in future years. “My guess is that in future years, we will not be able to afford to make a replacement commitment of this magnitude.” He said the cutbacks are likely to lead some students, maybe two dozen, to not attend Cal Lutheran. For Pepperdine University’s Seaver College in Malibu, the loss will be an estimated $2 million, said Michael Truschke, dean of admission and enrollment management at the undergraduate school. He said 430 students receive Cal Grants, about 14 percent of the school’s 3,100 undergraduates. “We want to support the students,” he said, “but a $2 million gap is pretty big. We’ll have to look at all the options, including finding more grant and aid or asking students to shoulder more of the burden.” Gov. Brown has argued that cuts to the Cal Grant program are necessary given the state’s fiscal crisis. The governor is proposing three different cuts to the Cal Grant program, which collectively would save the state $301.8 million per year. The first change would limit the amount of aid to qualifying students attending for-profit, proprietary schools such as University of Phoenix to $4,000 a year, saving the state $59.1 million; the second change would reduce Cal Grant to students attending private, nonprofit schools to the same amount students receive now to attend Cal State schools, or $5,472, saving the state $111.5 million. The third measure would raise the GPA high school students need to qualify for the grants, a measure that would save $131.2 million. “These entitlement programs are one of the fastest growing in the state,” said H.D. Palmer, deputy director for the state department of finance. “Over an eight-year period, their cost has increased by $915 million and will total $1.6 billion in the coming fiscal year.” Given the state’s dire fiscal situation, he said the state must focus its resources on students who attend public institutions and spend limited resources on students most likely to finish their degrees, which is what prompted the change in the GPA requirement, he said. Palmer said private schools may have to reach into their endowments to help their own students. But the schools say their endowments are not what they once were and that it will be tough to make up such steep cuts. Cal Lutheran, which has an endowment of $45 million, awarded $33 million in grants and scholarships this academic year to about one third of its student body. “The tenor of these cuts is that private schools serve affluent families and don’t need Cal Grants,” said Ward. “That’s simply not true.” Woodbury has built its reputation as a school that serves first-generation Americans and the children of the working class, said St. Clair. “This will be a source of significant distress for many of our students and families.” St. Clair said enrollment at Woodbury has remained robust through the recession, but this reduction in aid could reverse that trend. “If we were confident we could retain those students who are affected, we would not be this concerned about it,” he said. “It will affect enrollment.” Schools are also worried that the loss in aid will ultimately change the make-up of their student body. Of 459 students receiving Cal Grants at Cal Lutheran this year, 201 are Latino, 26 are African American, 22 are Asian and five are Native American. Minorities make up 42 percent of the student body at Cal Lutheran, Ward said. “This may mean we accept fewer students, that enrollment may decrease, and may result in less diversity, fewer first-generation college students and a more affluent population of students,” Ward said. Students and university administrators plan to attend a March 8th gathering in Sacramento sponsored by the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities to speak out against the Cal Grant cuts.
Private Universities Plan for Reduction of Student Aid
