The College will increase its financial aid allotments next fiscal year by a larger percentage than it has increased tuition costs, administrators said. While Oberlin’s price tag increased by a little more than five percent in the past year, most financial aid packages were raised by a larger percentage.

This increase is to offset the cost of expenses outside of tuition, room and board and to compensate for rising inflation and a poor economy.

“Family income hasn’t risen at the same rate as inflation,” Director of Financial Aid Rob Reddy said.

The prices of food, books and other incidentals tend to rise at a faster rate than the incomes of most families. Since financial aid takes non-academic need into account, students’ aid packages are fixed to account for this discrepancy.

The College’s financial aid policy states that the College is liable to pay 100 percent of the demonstrated need of accepted students. A student’s demonstrated financial need is measured by federally established guidelines. Administrators admit that the federal guidelines are imperfect and have not always been popular with students.

In the past few years the budget for financial aid has grown rapidly as the College attempts to meet its own goal to match all demonstrated need. Currently financial aid accounts for approximately 43 percent of the College’s budget. Reddy said that the administration is content with this number, and expects to continue to allocate the same percentage of its budget to financial aid in coming years.

While inflation is increasing at a greater rate than average family income, “tuition at most colleges is increasing at a faster rate than inflation,” Vice President of Finance Andrew Evans said. This is especially true for public colleges, where the average tuition went up 14 percent last year. Oberlin was one of many private colleges to raise its tuition. Private liberal arts colleges raised their tuition by as much as 7.5 percent as in the case of Carleton College.

School administrators and politicians have expressed concern that the economic trend will make it more difficult for some students to go on to higher education. Although administration officials claim that the rising tuition has not yet changed Oberlin’s applicant pool, that might not remain true in the future.

Some students believe that the school could do more to match need.
“The amount that I’ve had to take out in loans has increased each year,” one college senior said. “One of the reasons I came here was because the financial aid package was so good, but it’s not any more.”

At present Oberlin has been able to match students’ financial needs with financial aid despite a downturn in the economy. Last year, when a rumor circulated that the state of Ohio would withdraw certain grants, the College was able to promise that it would match whatever funds a student lost as a result of the grants being withdrawn.

Although Oberlin is willing to match financial need, Reddy said, it is up to students and their families to apply for it. The last day for filing for continuing financial aid is Friday, April 23.