University of Virginia Library

Students Receive Financial Aid
Totaling Record $3.2 Million

By ELIZABETH JOHNSON

University students have
received a record $3.2 million
in financial aid this school
year, an increase of more than
$400,000 over last year.

According to Director of
Financial Aid Edgar A.
Eldridge,: a total of 2,560
students received federal aid
through federal, state and
private programs in the form of
scholarships, loans or college
work-study arrangements. This
compares to 2,449 students
who received aid last year.

Increased Enrollment

Mr. Eldridge explained that
the financial aid figure is higher
because of increased
enrollment at University and
increases in costs. In addition,
there is an increase in the
number of students who need
financial aid.

"I think we are finding that
more of our undergraduate
students are coming from less
affluent families, and we are
helping them," he said.

The financial aid total
includes $680,000 in
institutional scholarship funds,
about $250,000 in federal
scholarship money and about
$1 million in federal students
loan fund, according to Mr.
Eldridge.

Other Sources

Also included is $450,000
in federal work-study funds,
$270,000 in state scholarship
funds and $250,000 in other
special funds such as
grant-in-aid programs.

Mr. Eldridge said the figures
reflect an increase over the
preceding year of about
$300,000 in federal loan funds
and about $100,000 in federal
work-study funds.

Charles Wheeler, asst.
director of financial aid, noted
that the $680,000 in
institutional funds had
remained almost constant." We
haven't had any increases in
University scholarship fund
within the past year.

Mr. Wheeler said that the
University would have to rely
primarily on federal funds if it
hoped to increase financial aid
in the coming years. "At this
time everything is up in the air,
but we anticipate a substantial
decrease in federal money.

Loan Programs

Most of the federal loan
funds are provided under the
National Direct Student Loan
program. Other loan programs
such as the Federally Insured
Loan program, which is
administered by banks with
students directly are not
reflected in University figures.
Also not reflected are graduate
fellowships and assistants
administered by individual
schools at the University.