Colleges removing ‘welfare’ stigma from grants, loans

When Richie LeSpade was looking to finance his college career at Great Basin College in Elko, his parents had some money in savings, but he knew he would need other sources.

At the top of the list were federal and state grants and loans. To get them, he had to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, and get his parents to provide sensitive financial information.

"For them it's hard, because it almost feels like they didn't do their job. It's almost like the welfare feeling," said LeSpade, who now is the student body president at Great Basin.

He is set to graduate in May with two associate degrees funded in part with scholarship and grant money.

His parents filled out the form because their desire for him to go to college outweighed any hesitation they had about applying for government funding, he said.

For some students, and their parents, a stigma is attached to the words "financial aid." To combat that, Nevada's higher education leaders, spurred by an intense discussion on the issue during a meeting in February, are toying with the idea of renaming the state's financial aid system.

"The general opinion is if you call something an 'award,' it might be perceived as having a higher status than something being called a 'grant,' " said Sharon Wurm, director of financial aid for the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Today in Carson City, regents will consider renaming the laboriously titled "Nevada Student Access Aid Program" to something else, such as the "Nevada Access Award" or "Silver State Award."

Some say the change would better brand the state's financial aid program and get more students to apply for the funds.

"I think we do a very, very, very bad job of getting our message out," Regent Cedric Crear said in February.

Not even half of all Nevada college students fill out the FAFSA form. The form, which is required to unlock thousands of dollars from federal and state sources, uses parents' income to determine how much a student will receive.

Great Basin College President Paul Killpatrick said that when he was in college, his father had a difficult time filling out the form and other financial aid applications.

"There were some times that I filled in the information and signed his name because that's the only way I could have afforded school," Killpatrick said.

The stigma has largely disappeared, however, as college tuition has skyrocketed, said Norm Bedford, director of financial aid and scholarships at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

"When I was a student back in 1985, I think there were some negative social connotations that, 'Oh, you're receiving financial aid. Maybe you come from a lower socioeconomic status,' " he said.

Peter Hurley, financial aid director at College of Southern Nevada, agreed, saying the stigma of financial aid isn't as big an issue as making first-generation college students and their parents aware that the aid is available.

Renaming the Nevada Student Access Aid Program may not make the stigma go away, some officials said, but it may encourage more people to apply for it.

Anybody going to college, regardless of income levels, can get a federal student loan.

"I call it the 'Bill Gates Rule,' " Bedford said. "Bill Gates could apply with FAFSA and get a federal student loan."

The names of things do matter, he said. His department used to be called, "Student Financial Services," but officials discovered that the department wasn't among the top search results on UNLV's Web site when students were looking for it.

So about a month ago, he renamed the department of "Financial Aid and Scholarships."

Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0440.