Overview of MSU Financial Aid for 2006-07

Michigan State University is fully eliminating loans with grants and work study funds to cover tuition, fees, books, and room and board for its incoming first-year, Michigan students whose families fall at or below the federal poverty level through its new Spartan Advantage program. 

Currently, half of our students receive some form of financial aid. But 56 percent of students still graduate with debt, carrying an average obligation of about $19,000. For students in the Pell-eligible category, that rises to $22,300.
Students who are eligible for the Spartan Advantage must:

• be first-time, first-year Michigan residents enrolled for fall 2006, i.e. Michigan students progressing from high school to college for the first time;
• have met the federal need-based designation as being eligible for Pell Grants;
• have been determined to fall at or below the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services poverty level ($20,000 for a family of four in 2006);
• enrolled full-time in a baccalaureate degree program

Approximately 1,300 Michigan students will benefit from the Spartan Advantage when a full cohort of eligible students is established during the next four years, according to Rick Shipman, MSU’s director of financial aid. About 325 students will be eligible this fall.

Overall, the budget calls for student financial aid increases of $4.2 million, approximately 8.5 percent more than last year.
 
All MSU students who received institutional need-based grants last year, and who remain eligible, will receive an increase in those funds for fall of 2006. Last year, enhanced need-based financial aid meant that gift awards for our neediest students increased by an average of 25 percent, which decreased out-of-pocket costs.

“The average is harder to calculate this year for our students with the most financial need since those at or below the poverty level will receive Spartan Advantage gift aid, but students who receive aid from our largest institutional need-based grant program will have an average 10.7 percent increase in those funds, a rate considerably greater than the cost increase,” said Rick Shipman, MSU’s director of financial aid. “Again, this represents a decrease in out-of-pocket expenses for these students.”

Students who do not qualify for need-based gift aid still qualify for low-cost federal loans, as do parents of dependent students. Both students and parents can borrow through a special no-fee, no-interest for seven years program offered by the state of Michigan, called Michigan Students First. All students are eligible to borrow through this program.

Many students work to help meet expenses and the university actually employs about 17,000 students each year. Others work for local merchants.

More private scholarships are available to more students than ever before. Our students received more than $14 million in private scholarships last year alone and this amount has risen each of the last many years.

The per student amount for federal and state need-based gift money has not increased for the past five years, so the increase in gift aid for needy students can be attributed entirely to MSU’s commitment to these students and to the generosity of our many donors.