The budget shortfall responsible for spending cuts and layoffs at IPFW wasn’t the result of a single factor, but an enrollment decline last fall played a big part in creating it. Likewise, no single factor caused the enrollment decline, but changes in federal student aid rules certainly contributed.
IPFW was not alone in feeling the effects. The federal government’s new dictates on how colleges and universities interpret the “satisfactory academic progress” students are required to show to maintain eligibility for aid draw a fine line between access and accountability. More important, they expose the need to reconsider how aid is distributed. It’s time to rethink who college students are, where they are going and how they are getting there.
Accountability counts
Federal investment in student aid is no small change. U.S. Department of Education figures show it grew from $64 billion in 2000-01 to nearly $170 billion in 2010-11. George McClellan, vice chancellor for student affairs and enrollment at IPFW, said the regulations colleges and universities must follow in dispensing financial aid haven’t changed as much over the years as the interpretation of those rules. It’s the interpretation of “satisfactory academic progress” that’s shaken things up in recent years.
Formerly, if a student ran into academic problems and faced the loss of student aid, it was left to the institution to work with the student, document the problem and decide whether he or she should continue.
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