DSG releases analysis of financial aid policies

Last year's Duke Student Government president, Lisa Zeidner, told students she would force financial aid to the top of the University's agenda. And a 100-plus-page report from her Task Force on Financial Aid looks like it will make good on her word.

Released July 19, the report calls for several significant changes in financial aid policy, including the revocation of a policy that penalizes financial aid students who own cars, the addition of summer financial aid and the relocation of the financial aid office. Administrators have already taken action on the third suggestion (see sidebar, page 1) and will use the months leading up to the December Board of Trustees meeting to craft a response to the rest. "I think the DSG report is a very valuable contribution to our efforts...," Vice Provost for Finance and Administration Jim Roberts wrote in an e-mail. "There is a high degree of convergence between the DSG report and the work of [an administrative financial aid planning group] and that bodes well for our taking some very positive steps in the next couple of years."

The report represents a year-long project by the DSG Financial Aid Task force, set up last year by Zeidner. One of her top campaign priorities, the document relies on the results of a survey of 204 financial aid recipients and the discussions of eight focus groups organized by residency, greek status and race.

"The purpose of this whole study was to understand better real, actual, lived experiences of students," Zeidner said. "That's one of the things that stuck out most to me... how much students had in common. We heard many of the same things over and over again. We heard many of the same problems and issues."

Car Policy

Zeidner's committee began with the premise that the University had ignored the negative quality-of-life impact of financial aid on its students. One of the first such issues to arise several years ago, the car policy subtracts 35 percent of the value of a student's car from his financial aid package, unless the car is worth less than $3,500 or is older than seven years.

The report reads: "Eliminating the car policy would do more to improve student perceptions of financial aid than any other policy or program that could be enacted because it is such a blatant example of how aided students are treated differently by the University."

Although Roberts and Director of Undergraduate Financial Aid Jim Belvin declined to comment on the specific policies, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education William Chafe expressed optimism about changing the car policy. "I just think there's a fence here of inequity, and some people are being punished for not having... any way of transportation as opposed to flying home," said Chafe, who leads the University's admissions and financial planning group, which addresses financial aid.

Summer aid

Students and administrators are also carefully studying the possibility of providing financial aid for summer school students and for students who find unpaid summer internships. "Students on financial aid are limited in the types of jobs that they can accept because they are required to spend their summers earning set amounts of money," the report reads. "This in turn restricts their summer academic opportunities, particularly in majors like public policy in which an internship is required."

In addition, the report said support for a ninth semester would help students who come to Duke without any Advanced Placement credits to balance a heavier course load with work-study responsibilities.

"Students who come in and don't have AP credits with them... have to take an overload two semesters, and the provost's office frowns on that," said task force chair and junior Erin Reid. "When you have an overload, you do worse on your grades. If you can take summer school classes and not have to worry about going further into debt, that will help alleviate [the situation]."

Other policy recommendations

Over the past several years, many students complained that the financial aid office afforded them little privacy and that the distance between the bursar's office on West Campus, the financial aid office on Campus Drive and the student loan office on East Campus imposed an extra burden. Now, however, the two latter offices will consolidate into both the International House and the current Office of Undergraduate Financial Aid located across from each other on Anderson Street.

The report made several other recommendations as well, including more flexible dining plans and cost equalization of housing options. "Socioeconomic status in general certainly contributes to where you end up living at Duke," said DSG President Jordan Bazinsky, a senior. "No one at Duke is trying to segregate people... [but] if we can be cognizant of it and try to work toward mitigating its effects, that's the goal."

The students' role

But the report did not focus solely on administrative changes-Zeidner and Bazinsky both believe that students can play a key role in reforming the financial aid system. The report recommends dialogue, peer support, advocacy and inclusion as important steps for students.

"That is something that I hope takes hold and that I hope more students think about," Zeidner said. "For greater change to happen at the University, it needs to have more active buy-ins from students."

On that note, DSG plans to designate an officer who, according to the report, will act "as a resource/advocate for students who are on financial aid"; this semester, Reid will serve in this position. In addition, DSG, in coordination with the financial aid office, will publish a financial aid guide to make the process more accessible and understandable to the undergraduate community.

Administrators plan to craft a formal response to the DSG report in the coming months.

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