Recession Puts Squeeze on Students

SYRACUSE, N.Y., Dec. 24, 2008 -- She'd finished her last final -- MAT 221: Elementary Probability and Statistics -- and returned to her dorm room on Syracuse University's South Campus. Between saying goodbye to everyone she knew here, taking finals and working her two jobs as a resident adviser and teacher's aide at a local private elementary school, she had let the empty boxes pile up in the back of her room.

Packing could wait. Dalan Dinh had three days until everything had to be boxed up and shipped home to California. One suitcase was packed and bulging out of its sides. That was all she could muster. Packing meant she had finally given in. Packing meant it was over.

"I don't even know how to do it," Dinh said. "I know exactly what I need to pack. I just really don't want to see my room empty. All these boxes have been here since Thanksgiving. I've been cleaning my shelves and giving stuff away.

"I just don't want to leave."

But eventually, Dinh had to pack. The sophomore isn't coming back to Syracuse in the spring because her parents can no longer afford the bill. Dad is a real estate agent in California. Mom has been unemployed for a year.

Recession Hits Students

Dinh's plight reflects the trickle-down effects of the current recession on college students. Syracuse launched a $2 million emergency fundraising drive called Syracuse Responds Dec. 4 to help as many as 400 students who needed additional financial aid to return to school next semester.

Syracuse wants to raise the $2 million by Jan. 31. Officials said within the first two days of the drive, the school raised more than $26,000. Syracuse will not provide another update until the new year.

Other universities, mostly private schools, have taken similar steps to boost aid. In October, George Washington University added approximately $8 million to its financial aid offerings in response to the economic crisis.

Oakland University in Michigan gave out an additional $250,000 in financial aid for students whose financial situations had drastically changed, and 200 students inquired about the free assistance. Brown University is increasing its financial aid for the 2009 fiscal year by 20 percent.

More Aid Needed

During the first half of 2008, 8.9 million students filed federal student aid forms, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education. That's a 16.3 percent increase over the same period last year.

By November, Syracuse had already granted 202 more appeals for financial aid than it did for all of last academic year.

"We see more and more institutions investing in need-based financial aid," said Youlonda Copeland-Morgan, associate vice president for enrollment management and director of scholarships and student aid at SU. "Some institutions have the resources to do more. Syracuse University's endowment has suffered tremendously during this period and so has that of many of our peer institutions. But I believe where there's a will, there's a way."

Private schools like Yale University and Princeton University fund upwards of 75 percent of their financial aid packages from their endowment. In the past year, Syracuse has lost more than $170 million from its $1 billion endowment.

Dinh did not know about the new fundraiser until it was too late. She saw a story about Syracuse Responds that aired on Good Morning America on Dec. 7, but by then, she had already taken the steps to withdraw from next semester and enroll for classes at Sacramento City College.

Application Denied

In November, Dinh had applied for more financial aid from Syracuse when her parents told her she wouldn't be able to come back without it. Sarrena Falso, an SU financial aid counselor, told Dinh in a Nov. 14 e-mail that "At this particular time we do not have the funding to extend anyone additional grant funds." Falso told Dinh that she could be reconsidered for additional aid for the 2009-10 school year.

"The problem is, this next semester I'd be wasting $16,000 to just come here based off of knowing I might be able to come back next fall," Dinh said.

"The fact that we got nothing kind of blew my mind."

Others have had more fortune.

Nathaniel Bryant, a junior policy studies major, went home to Paterson, N.J., for a weekend in November and saw the bursar's bill on his mom's table. Through scholarships and financial aid, Bryant receives considerable help in paying for the $45,940 it costs to attend Syracuse for an entire year.

Coming Up Short

"How am I going to pay for this bill?" Bryant said. "I need to come back next semester. I want to come back next semester. I need to get this bill paid."

He e-mailed Syracuse's financial aid office when he got back to school. SU said it would pick up the bill for the rest of the semester.

"I was very lucky," Bryant said. "I was just hoping for a little bit, but they helped me out entirely."

Dinh said she knew her parents were under financial strain when she came cross-country to Syracuse from California. Her two older siblings had gone through the California public school system for college, and by attending an expensive private school in the Northeast, she felt somewhat guilty.

Taking on Jobs

To afford it, she worked full-time as a resident adviser, taking the part-time work-study job as a teacher's assistant while she maintained her full-time class schedule. She said she slept four hours a night and "threw out my social life."

"When I did apply for the additional financial aid and we got denied, I just decided I couldn't do it anymore," Dinh said.

SU's Copeland-Morgan said financial aid is more than simply paying for the bill.

"Financial aid allows students to fully participate in the college experience," Copeland-Morgan said. "So when students and their families are under tremendous financial pressures, then they're less likely to engage in leadership opportunities, civic organizations, internships or taking that extra class."

Now what?

Syracuse was the place for her, Dinh sad. That's what has made leaving even harder.

"This is where I want to be," she said. "The fact that my parents don't have a couple thousand dollars to send me here and somebody won't help me get that money... it's kind of hard."

She said she would reapply to Syracuse in the fall to see if the school will offer her any additional aid. If it does, she wants to come back.

Copeland-Morgan is "very confident" SU can raise the $2 million it set out to bring in. The school already earmarked an additional $3.5 million to meet the increased aid requests from students. But the demand for more money is a trend that's just beginning, she said. Officials won't know how many students could not return until the spring semester begins Jan. 12.

Summer Job

But with his mother's yearly salary of $10,000 as a Salvation Army employee, he doesn't get much help outside of financial aid.

That's why, he said, you can't be afraid to approach the financial aid office.

"If you need money, just ask for it," Bryant said. "Don't be humble. Don't seem like it's beneath you to ask. Because if you don't ask, the answer is no."