Over the past weeks, the economy has become one of the dominant issues in the country. College financial aid, and thus students' access to higher education, is one area that experts feel will be drastically affected by the financial turmoil.
UW-Madison professor emeritus of educational leadership and policy analysis Jacob Stampen said he thinks the current economy is so volatile that it is difficult to judge to what extent access to financial aid will be affected.
I don't think anyone can predict anything right now,"" Stampen said.
However, he said the overall outlook for students is not positive. The underlying problem, according to Stampen, is banks are currently very wary about lending money, either to other financial institutions or individuals. This means student loans from the private sector will be increasingly difficult to obtain in the coming months.
Stampen said this could lead to higher tuitions with the state Legislature likely having difficulty increasing aid packages as the overall state economy suffers. UW-Madison tuition increased by 5.5 percent this year, though in-state tuition is lower than many other comparable schools, according to information from the UW System Board of Regents website.
Allan Odden, professor and co-director of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education Finance Center at UW-Madison, said some tuition increases are necessary when state funding is drying up.
He said in the current economic climate, tuition should be restructured so that higher-income students would pay more and lower-income students would pay less, similar to the systems in place at the University of Virginia and the University of Colorado.
The current trend of state and federal governments providing less funding for higher education is unlikely to change, Odden said, especially with the economy faltering.
""The trend is not good,"" Odden said.
Perhaps more worrisome to others, some students might simply not pursue higher education when the prospect of funding is so bleak.
Sara Goldrick-Rab, UW-Madison assistant professor of educational policy studies and sociology, said the economic crises are deterring many lower-income high school students from trying to attend college.
She said many students from families where the parents did not attend college are seeing college as an unrealistic option when financial aid seems difficult to attain. This could lead to students not saving for college or preparing as much academically, she said.
However, Goldrick-Rab said access to financial aid will not be as difficult as some students currently think.
""We are engaged in a battle of perceptions right now,"" she said.
She said Pell grants recently increased, and loans would be more difficult for students attending online or community colleges than students wanting to attend the UW-System.
