For several years now, finances in colleges have gotten higher, causing many potential students to simply just forget about going to college due to financial struggles.  

This makes people assume the idea that college is an amazing place to live, and to find what you’re truly passionate about doing with your life apparently only works if you have deep pockets. 

Starting next year, VSU will start to make restrictions that will reduce the amount that some students will get. This will cause difficulties, especially for students who rely heavily on FASFA. 

This could cause severe repercussions, like seniors not being able to use loans for their last three-hour classes to get their degree. Not only that, but junior students are not allowed to apply for their new minors. If they do so anyway, financial aid will not help to pay for it.  

The truly devastating fact is when these restrictions begin,  100 students who are heavily reliant on FASFA will be edged out of the university. 

For majors who are undecided, they cannot be juniors and still have an undecided major. According to the faculty meeting held regarding these restrictions, they have until the end of their sophomore year to decide.  

 This brings up the question, are we going to do anything to help these students, and are we prepared for what will happen with enrollment when restrictions come into effect?. 

When you think of a high school senior applying to colleges, each student does research about the colleges they are applying to:. Which one has the best programs? How far away do they want to be from home? They consider these and several other aspects, including financial aid.  

If the student’s‘ financial aid application was rejected by their first choice of college due to financial aid restrictions, they would probably end up widening their horizons and going to a different school. 

This might start happening to potential VSU students next year, which will probably hurt enrollment rather than help it. 

What is interesting is even the interim president himself, Dr. William Crowe, has been changing his answers regarding funding for the school. In the enrollment seminar, he said that we have money to spend and yet in a recent meeting he stated, “VSU has money, but it’s not a lot of money.” 

Hopefully while Dr. Crowe is here, he will find a way to increase enrollment, but financial– aid restrictions won’t do the trick.