Students scramble to pay tuition

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Students are scrambling not only to make the grade this semester, but also make their first tuition payments to universities.

As college students return to school this week, many are making their first stops at the financial aid office. With the slow economy, college financial aid advisers say they're swamped with last-minute applications and emergency loan requests.

At Austin Community College, loan applications are up 73 percent this year, due in part to more students staying near home, said Austin Community College Director of Student Assistance Terry Bazan.

"We've awarded 51 percent more than we did last year at this time," she said. "We are definitely feeling the crunch."

Austin Community College's financial aid office has a 3-4 week backlog of letting people know what type of financial aid they will receive, Bazan said.

Meanwhile, the University of Texas has seen a slight increase in the number of emergency loans given out.

"Among the folks who do apply, what we're seeing is folks much needier this year than last year," said Tom Melecki, Director of Student Financial Assistance for the University of Texas at Austin.

Melecki said his office had a "record-setting summer" in the number of Special Circumstance Appeals for federal aid.

The U.S. Department of Education will provide more than $83 billion in financial aid this year, but there is more need. The agency processed about 20 percent more Free Applications for Federal
Student Aid , or FAFSA’s, this year than last.

To continue their education, more students are taking on loans, knowing they will have to be repaid later. Some college planning experts fear loans will even become more difficult to
receive next year as credit tightens and many private lenders get out of the student loan business.

The amount of money offered in Pell Grants for the neediest of students increased this year from just more than $4,700 to more than $5,200. Texas legislators finalized the amount of money
in The Texas Grant Program offering student aid in state.

The University of Texas received 13 percent more in the amount given through Texas Grants than last year.

Melecki said students and parents should not feel ashamed to call the financial aid office at their respective universities, saying more than 50 percent of U.T. students receive some form of need based aid.