By Scott Harvey
Commerce – Texas A&M University-Commerce President Dr. Dan Jones offers his outlook on possible cuts to student aid, currently up for debate in the state legislature.
Speaking on this month's edition of the President's Perspective, Dr. Jones stated that proposed cuts to programs like Texas Grants and the Be-On-Time (BOT) program would virtually, if not entirely, eliminate funding for new students coming into the program. Students who are already in college making good progress toward their degrees would able to keep their funding. The programs currently serve more than 150,000 students each year.
"As you mentioned, [those cuts] will affect about 41,000 students in the next two years," Jones said. "If these rules had been in place last fall, it would have been about 800 students here at A&M-Commerce who would not have received aid."
There are other opportunities, says Jones.
"While resources are diminishing for need-based scholarship programs, merit-based scholarships are still available. We've placed a big emphasis at the university on raising additional funds from our friends, from our alumni, from our prospective donors, for supporting those merit-based endowment scholarships."
Dr. Jones encourages any prospective student to visit www.tamu-commerce.edu and click on the scholarships page for more information. Each merit-based scholarship offers different criteria that would need to be met for a student to be eligible.
"Our goal is that no student, who fervently desires a college education, should be denied the opportunity simply because of lack of financial resources."
Hear Dr. Jones' complete comments on financial aid, summer programs at A&M-Commerce, and the university's new dormitory by visiting ketr.org/podcasts.