Dollars and Sense | Financial aid remains top priority | Interactive graphic

Though the state of the economy will likely increase requests for financial aid, most private colleges and universities, including Penn, are committed to maintaining their financial-aid policies and initiatives.

The schools that have pledged to maintain financial-aid initiatives have been counteracting reduced budgets by pulling funds from other areas, which has resulted in firing administration and faculty members, cutting programs and freezing faculty salaries and new hiring.

Penn will continue to admit students on a need-blind basis and fully meet the financial-aid requirements of each student as determined by Student Financial Services, Penn's director of Financial Aid Bill Schilling said.

And Penn is not the only school to maintain student financial aid as a top priority.

In a survey conducted last month by the National Association for Independent Colleges and Universities, 92 percent of surveyed institutions said they were planning to increase aid relief, NAICU spokesman Tony Pals said.

"We are seeing schools tightening their belts, in areas like faculty salaries and freezing new hiring, but the one place that has been largely untouched is student aid," he said.

Although Schilling said he anticipates an increase in requests for aid in response to high unemployment rates, he said he has yet to see "any significant increases this year."

Penn's SFS will review aid eligibility anytime a student has a change in circumstances, even in the middle of the semester, according to Schilling.

If the new school year does bring increases in the number of financial-aid requests, Schilling said the University "may be using some funds that we reserve for contingency" to address these requests.

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the campaign for new funding for undergraduate aid seems to be on track, he added.

"Everybody recognizes that the economy is in a very difficult place," he said. "Despite the financial pressures it causes, we have to do what we can to maintain a strong aid program."

There has also been "no significant change at this point" in the number of work-study students, according to John Rudolph, manager of the Student Employment Office.

However, Rudolph said because companies are downsizing and paid internships are limited, he expects more students to apply for summer Federal Work-Study.

Last summer the Student Employment Office processed 893 applications, and Rudolph said he would expect that number to increase to at least 1,000 this summer.

"Some students will use work-study as a safety net in the event that they cannot find a summer internship," Rudolph wrote in an e-mail.

Private institutions with large endowments like Penn will "probably be able to meet all the financial commitments they have made for the next two to three years," Graduate School of Education professor Joni Finney said.

According to a survey conducted in December by the Chronicle of Higher Education, 83 percent of private colleges reported lower-than-usual tuition increases for next year.

Princeton University, for instance, recently announced its smallest tuition increase in 43 years, Pals said.

Private institutions that are selective but have midsize endowments will likely increase endowment spending as well as the amount of tuition students and families are expected to contribute, Finney said.

Middlebury College, for instance, made a public announcement earlier this month that it will ask students and parents to contribute slightly more of the tuition.

The least-selective institutions with no endowments will "do what they can to stay open," Finney said.

With state budget funds dramatically decreased, Maryland and Pennsylvania are the only two states whose governors said they will make other budget cuts before increasing tuition for public schools.

But the downturn in the economy could have "the most devastating impact" on the public sector, she warned.

"If we don't find a way to find support for higher education, the big risk to this country is a major reduction in college access and opportunity," Finney said.

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