Some students at MSU-Meridian and other colleges in Mississippi will need to add an extra class in order to receive state scholarship money this fall.

The change comes after the Mississippi Postsecondary Education Financial Assistance Board modified the definition of a full-time student for the purposes of receiving state financial aid from 12 credit hours to 15 credit hours.

Mississippi State University-Meridian campus Administrative Director Dr. Terry Dale Cruse said the change will cause problems mainly for non-traditional students. 

The new rule does not affect federal aid programs, such as Pell Grants, but does impact those applying for state aid. The change was approved June 1 by the Mississippi Postsecondary Education Financial Assistance Board.

The change came as a result of the state expecting a $10.4 million projected shortfall this year. The change takes affect for the academic and aid year beginning July 1.

“My expectation is that this is going to be highly impactful to students who are working adults, have families and trying to balance their educational pursuits with work, life and family,” Cruse said. “For those students, this new rule means less time for students to work and spend time with their family. Another class is a huge commitment. I hope we can still encourage adult students and non-traditional students to still pursue higher education even though they have added another class. By doing that, I hope there is enough time in their schedule that they have time to really prepare and be successful.”

Cruse said MSU-Meridian students will be challenged by the academic change.

“Our students are balancing a lot of different priorities while trying to go to class,” Cruse said. “This will be a big deal for them.”  

State aid programs such as the Higher Education Legislative Plan for Needy Students (HELP), the Mississippi Tuition Assistance Program (HELP) and Mississippi Eminent Scholars Grant (MSEG) are all affected by the new rule. The Board approved changes to the HRLP program rules to freeze the income threshold at $39,500. HELP recipients must complete the high school core curriculum, and to reduce the length of eligibility from 10 semesters to eight semesters.

Cruse, also, noted the change came after students had already registered for fall semester classes.

Meridian Community College officials, however, predicted the change will be hardly noticed by its students because the school already requires students to take 15 credit hours. MCC instituted the 15-hour academic requirement last academic year.

Meridian Community College President Dr. Scott Elliott said the new rule won’t affect that many students enrolled at MCC.

“Last fall MCC disbursed roughly $103,000 in MTAG monies to a total of 433 students out of the some 3,300 that were enrolled either full- or part-time. Therefore, only about 14 percent of our student body benefited from MTAG last fall term,” Elliott said. “I would suggest that many of those 433 students were taking 15 hours to begin with. So, I would predict that this change won’t have a dramatic effect on MCC students. A goodly number of our students are full Pell Grant recipients, and you can’t benefit from both a full Pell award and MTAG, anyway.”

Besides the budget shortfall, Elliott said, the government wanted students to complete their requirements quicker.

“The state and, indeed, the federal government have been pushing for improved completion rates among college students,” Elliott said. If a student is only taking 12 hours per term, then it is impossible to complete a college program in what would be considered a traditional time frame.”

Elliott said the new rule could lead to problems for some students.

“One downside of this change is that it could well be argued that a struggling student shouldn’t necessarily be taking more than 12 hours per term. Compelling students to take 15 hours to qualify for MTAG or other programs might be setting some students up for failure,” Elliott said. “That’s the double-edged sword regarding this whole issue.”

MCC Dean for Student Services Soroya Welden said  the Mississippi Office of Student Financial Aid has contacted students about the changes for the 2016-2017 academic year.

“The Student Financial Aid office has reached out to all students who who applied for financial aid and notified them of the policy change from 12 to 15 hours. Those letters went out this past weekend,” Welden said. “There is a Q & A section in the Mississippi Office of Student Financial Aid website. Are they going to allow some exceptions? Sounds like they are if a student has 12-14 hours left to graduate.”

Welden is optimistic the impact will be minimal.

“I really don’t think there is going to be a big impact as it seems to be as the Financial Aid Office is going to allow for exceptions,” Welden said. “It seems seems part of the movement of promoting on-time graduation. If a student is not strong academically, and they’re in a 12-14-hour curriculum, they could be hurt in the long run. The key is for a student to talk with their advisor and build a schedule that meets their academic need and educational goals.”

Former MCC students Dquante Evans and Lexie Rivers said they were recently notified of the academic change. Evans will be a junior at MSU-Meridian next fall, majoring in social work. Rivers will be a junior at Mississippi State and is majoring in occupational therapy.

“Taking 15 hours was not really a shocker because at MCC you had to take 15 hours to keep your scholarship here,” said Evans, who was on a tennis scholarship. “Going here for four semesters prepared me for 15 hours or more per semester.”

Rivers had similar thoughts. She took 17 credit hours last semester at MCC. 

“I think the change is good because it gives students motivation to stay in class,” Rivers said. 

Financial Aid Tips

 

 

The Mississippi Office of Student Financial Aid offers tips to students for the next academic year:

• If you have already registered for fewer than 15 credit hours, contact the registrar at your institution to add additional hours.

• If tou have already registered for Fall 2016, review your schedule.

• Summer hours can’t be added to Fall, Winter (William Carey University students only) and/or Spring hours.

• If enrollment drops below 15 credits before state aid has been disbursed to the student, the aid will be canceled for that term and the following term. If enrollment drops below 15 credits after state aid has been disbursed to the student, the aid will be canceled for the following term.

The Mississippi Office of Student Financial Aid can be reached for questions at 1-800-327-2980 or throught its website www.mississippi.edu/contactsfa.