State cuts $8M from student aid program

When she goes back to St. Edward’s University this fall, Haydee Escalante may find some classmates missing from the Austin campus.

This month, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board revealed an $8 million draw back for the “B-On-Time” loan program, which offers students interest-free, forgivable loans if they graduate on time with a B average or better.

Private colleges and universities won’t receive any B-On-Time program money, prompting some to seek enrollment at cheaper, public schools.

Escalante, a 2005 St. Joseph Academy graduate and summer intern at The Brownsville Herald, paid for housing with the extra money that she’ll have to budget out for the 2007-08 school year.

“At St. Ed’s there’s only enough dorms for freshmen. So most live off campus and it’s usually cheaper,” Escalante, a junior said.

The cuts will be deep for all university students that planned to “B on Time” and benefit from the free loans.

The programs $49 million budget was distributed among 12,800 students last year. The reduced $41 million budget will only stretch for 9,900 Texas students.

“On July 12, we received a Texas Legislature memorandum stating ‘most, but not all, renewal students’ will get loans and no new students would be eligible,” said Mari Chapa, financial aid director at the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College.

Chapa wasn’t sure exactly how many would be affected but had a “good feeling” the school would receive enough money.

“At bigger universities this may be a problem, but not here,” Chapa explained. “We only have 27 asking for renewals.”“The loan mostly helped me with hidden costs that came with college,” said Valerie Garcia, a UTB-TSC sophomore that received the loan last spring and is applying for again for the fall semester.

“It’s just sad they kept us in the dark about this until now.”