Many University of Memphis students depend heavily on studentloans to pay tuition and buy books, and they are among a growingnumber of American students who overestimate the amount of moneythe federal government will dole out to them each academicyear.
At least those are the findings of a new survey released lastweek by the Coalition for Better Student Loans, a group offinancial aid administrators, parents, loan providers andorganizations representing more than 2,000 colleges anduniversities.
The coalition surveyed 400 college students by telephone askinga variety of questions about student financial aid and whatchanges, if any, students would like to see in the federal program,said Tony Pals, National Association of Independent Colleges andUniversities director of pubic information. Pals serves on theboard of the Coalition for Better Student Loans and helped organizethe survey questions.
"The results of our survey indicate clearly that students want(loan) limits increased," Pals said. "Many of the students surveyedsaid they were fearful they will have to resort to other lessfavorable options to funding their college education withoutincreased limits."
About 91 percent of the students surveyed said they supportedincreases in federal student loan limits. However, more than halfthought the maximum amount a student could take out per academicyear exceeded $10,000, Pals said.
While Pals admits many students are misinformed about the rulesregulating loan limits, he said there still remains a chasm betweenhow much a college education costs and what students, and theirfamilies, can afford to pay.
University of Memphis director of financial aid, Richard Ritzmanagrees students loan limits should be increased.
"These limits (currently in place) are the limits that were ineffect 20 years ago," Ritzman said. "The cost of education has goneup significantly since then. Loan limits should take into accountthe realities of today and the cost of a college educationtoday."
That's exactly what lawmakers are doing. This year the HigherEducation Act, which governs how federal financial aid is funded isup for reauthorization.
In short lawmakers are considering either changing the federalfinancial aid program or leaving it as is. This reauthorizationprocess is what sparked the Coalition to conduct the financial aidsurvey, Pals said.
After completing the survey, Pals said, the Coalition sent alist of recommendations to lawmakers in hopes of influencing thereauthorization process, and combating arguments from some onCapital Hill that increasing loan limits will create more nationaldebt.
"The bottom line is that the amount of money it will take toincrease loan limits would have a minimal impact on the nationaldebt," Pals said.
The bottom line for Ritzman, who has spent 18 years working withthe federal financial aid program and the students it benefits, isthat many students won't be able to attend college without sometype of financial aid.
"Financial aid is an investment in the student," he said."There's no better investment a student can make."
