Rumors of a decrease in the amount of financial aid available to WTAMU students have recently circulated around campus, but according to Dan Garcia, Vice President for Enrollment Management, there is really nothing for students to worry about.
“If anything, the number of scholarships available to students over the last year has increased,” Garcia said. “We continually have donors that are giving us money, and as our enrollment increases, we set aside at least 15 percent of designated tuition to pay for scholarships. Nothing is anticipated to change for continuing students.”
A decrease in the Initial Texas Grant Awards spurred some of these rumors.
“It’s on the table to decrease it from $5,000 a year to $3,000 a year,” Jim Reed of Student Financial Services said. “But that funding would be for incoming students, and wouldn’t affect current students. The government doesn’t tend to make quick decisions when it comes to large amounts of money, but they are quick to make new regulations that we have no control over. So whenever a particular issue is brought up, we’re always quick to notify students of any possible changes in financial aid, or any other issue. Overall, the resources available to students, if anything, are getting better than worse.”
With this in mind, current students already receiving financial aid or other scholarships can expect to continue receiving them. Students can be assured that if there was ever a time that WT was experiencing financial difficulties, the university would continue providing help for them.
“If something did cause a decrease in the amount of money we are able to provide to qualifying students, we would try our best to find other ways of providing assistance,” Reed said.
One way WT is helping to increase the amount of money available to students is by switching from Coca-Cola products to Pepsi products in campus vending machines.
“The contract with Pepsi is much better in terms of what it means for our students,” Garcia said. “There were some incentives to switch to Pepsi, such as more money going to student scholarships.”
Some students are not deterred by the rumors and are still confident in WT’s scholarship funding.
“I think scholarships are very important,” Yesenia Castro, freshman Math and Science Education major, said. “WT does a fantastic job of offering as many scholarships as they do, and because of this, so far I’ve earned two free semesters, and maybe more to come.”
Garcia assured students that scholarship funding has not decreased and is safe for the time being.
“The big picture we can take away from this is that scholarship funding hasn’t decreased. Most of it is pretty even to what it was in previous years, and some funding has actually increased,” Garcia said.
