N.J. financial aid program slashes assistance to college students
Published: Monday, August 30, 2010, 6:51 AM Updated: Monday, August 30, 2010, 7:16 AM
Rutgers University sign in New Brunswick in a 2002 photo. The maximum Tuition Aid Grant awards at the institution will go down $714 as tuition and fees go up an average of $673.Low-income college students who rely on New Jersey’s popular Tuition Aid Grant program to help pay their tuition bills will see their aid checks slashed by nearly 8 percent as they return to campus for the new school year, state officials said.
The cuts — which will affect nearly a third of New Jersey’s full-time college students — mean the state’s neediest students will see their annual grants cut by between $192 and $872 as tuition rates continue to rise.
State funding for the Tuition Aid Grant, or TAG, program increased by 18 percent this year. But the number of New Jersey students qualifying for the the need-based grants surged by nearly 1,800 thanks to the lingering economic downturn.
So, state officials said they were forced to cut the awards for everyone.
"To remain within available resources and to fund all eligible students, it was the necessary to reduce awards for 2010-11," said AnnMarie Bouse,spokeswoman for the Higher Education Student