How do students pay for a Brown education? Work-study and impending loan costs are a significant part of the college experience for many undergraduates - 45 percent of Brown students receive "some kind of financial aid," according to Director of Financial Aid Michael Bartini. And within this wide segment of the community lies a diverse range of experiences.
"I made almost as much as my mom this year," said Aaron White '08. "My family made significantly less in 2004 than it did in 2003," he said, because his mother went back to school to earn a professional certification. "Last year I was paying all the bills."
White is on a financial aid package that provided him $44,727 this year - funds that include Brown grants and loans, a federal grant and an outside scholarship - out of a calculated yearly cost of $45,277, including travel expenses, health insurance, housing, meal plan and, of course, tuition. His family was expected to contribute nothing, while his own contribution of income from a summer job was $550. After the University saw that his mother was not receiving an income, his portion dropped to $360.
"I got hooked up," he said. Brown provided almost all of the money in a grant and loaned him $1,550 in the form of a Perkins loan - federal money administered by the University that has a capped interest rate. Students may also receive a federal Stafford loan, which has a variable interest rate that is "always less than 9 percent," Bartini said. Perkins loans are administered first because they are generally more favorable, Bartini said, though Stafford loans currently have a lower interest rate of about 5 percent.
Students are not expected to pay interest on these federal loans while they are in college. Instead, the government covers interest for four years. After graduation, interest payments begin. Usually payment takes up to 10 years, Bartini said, with a minimum monthly payment of $50. If a student has both Perkins and Stafford loans and cannot afford to make two minimum payments, they can choose to consolidate their loans, which will cost more over time, since the interest rate increases, but will allow them to make one smaller minimum payment per month.
White is also on a work-study program, but as a first-year, the University subsidizes his portion until sophomore year. "Depending on how much it is, I might be able to work off enough to pay off in one lump sum with my summer job," he said. This summer, he will continue to work in the Giants gift shop at San Francisco's PacBell Park for eight hours a day, five days a week. His hourly wage is $8.50, although he "might get a raise." This summer, with plans to concentrate in environmental studies, he will also have an environmental internship.
"I miss working a lot, since I've been working since eighth grade. This is the first time in five years where I haven't worked - it's hard not having an income," White said. "I'm basically dependent on my outside scholarship" for books and travel, he added.
White's outside scholarship, based in San Francisco, helps average middle-class families, although White said he had a higher GPA and a lower income than the cutoff for the scholarship.
Mary Kathryn Horning '07 supports her time on College Hill with work-study, three jobs and a loan to cover her portion. Horning's aid is about $25,000 in grant money and $5,500 in both Stafford and Perkins loans. Her family portion comes to about $9,000, $2,250 of which she pays off in work-study. This year, Horning makes $1,250 as a Women's Peer Counselor, $1,400 as a teaching assistant in a German class and between $700 and $800 a semester as an employee of the Blue Room, she said. Two of her jobs each require at least a 10-hour commitment per week.
In order to cover the rest of her family's share, Horning's mother has taken out a PLUS loan, another government loan that parents can take out on behalf of their children, she said. Her mother works as a nurse while her father sells car parts, although he declared bankruptcy five years ago.
"It's kind of rough, trying to fit everything together, It can be stressful, but it's also what I have to do in order to be here, so I just do it," she said. This summer she will work as a residential counselor for Brown's summer program. Next year she plans to work as a counseling coordinator and hopes to continue to work as a German TA.
"It's taken me a while to find a good balance, and I think maybe I still haven't found the perfect balance," she said. "Last year when I didn't have to work, I could just do my studying whenever I had to," she said. This year, however, she's "really tired at the end of the day when I need to sit down to do a paper."
"My grades did go down last semester. I can't say that's directly a result of having had to work, but it definitely played a role." In addition to classes and work, Horning tries to find time for extracurricular activities as well - she was a cast member in "The Vagina Monologues" and volunteers as a tour guide. "I still manage to do things, not as much as maybe I would do if I didn't have this other stuff going on."
Horning said she hopes that in the future, counselors will be paid the full federal work-study requirement - $2,250 per year - so that counselors on aid will not have to work multiple jobs to pay their expenses. "We are not fairly compensated," she said. There may be a pay raise next year, she said, although it hasn't been confirmed.
"I wish there was a better way to get all this stuff paid for. There are plenty of people here who will never have to work a day in their four years here ... sometimes I feel we're on unequal footing, but I think Brown's doing the best it can, all things considered," she said.
In addition to her jobs and the loans she already has, next year she will have to consider more loans as her parents will no longer be eligible to take out PLUS or private loans. She said she hopes an organization like the Sallie Mae Foundation will be able to help her out. Also, she intends to go to graduate school and will need to take out loans to pay for her further education.
"I'm definitely worried about paying off loans eventually. ... I'm worried my first apartment is going to be a one room shack in God-knows-where, but it's the price I've chosen to pay to be where I want to be," Horning said. "It's worth it. It's going to be hard for a long time, but it's worth it."
Olga Maymeskul '08, on the other hand, can't get federal financial aid at all. She has an H-4 visa, which means she is classified as a dependent of someone with an H-1 visa. An H-1 visa holder is permitted to work in the United States. Because she is not an U.S. citizen, she is also not eligible for most private scholarships in this country. The University responded to her need by providing her with international student loans.
Her father's income as a professor for Georgia Southern Univesity covers her family contribution at present. "It's a Russian thing, your parents pay for school and you take care of them when you grow up," she said. However, next year she'll be on work-study and will contribute to the cost of her own education.
White and Horning said other schools they had applied to offered them more aid, but they chose Brown for other reasons. White said, "If (Brown) had offered me less, I would have been more inclined to go to another school," while Horning "didn't want to go to school in Virginia," her home state.
Both Maymeskul and White said they felt that the University had been accommodating to their unique needs. While Brown ranked among Princeton Review's bottom 20 schools for satisfaction with financial aid last year, the addition of the Sidney Frank Scholars in the class of 2009 signifies an improving financial aid policy for incoming students at Brown.
Horning views not only her academic but also her financial aid experience as educational. "I look at my time here a little bit differently than other people do," she said. "I ... really value my education, I know how much it's costing me and my family, and I wouldn't very well have been able to come here if things had been different."
