To the editor:
I must first applaud the initiative of the Spectator in writing an article on the troubles of financial aid for General Studies students (“Financial Aid still troubles GS,” Nov. 30, 2009). However, many of the details and arguments presented, especially those of the GS administration, are completely and utterly flawed. GS Dean Peter Awn emphasizes the discount rate, stating that “people do not understand this.” What’s not to understand? While CC and SEAS students are reaping the benefits of alumni endowments reaching upwards of $200 million, the entire financial aid budget for GS remains below $10 million. What Dean Awn does not understand is that waiting for alumni funds to pick up before increasing financial aid presents a defective, circular argument—if many students are graduating more than $100,000 in debt (a statistic confirmable from multiple personal accounts) and not the mere $48,028 reported, as well as being continuously excluded from the greater undergraduate community because of issues like swipe access and no guaranteed housing, then what alumnus in his or her right mind would want to give back to the school, let alone have the means of doing so? This is aside from the fact that 88 percent of financial aid in the GS is shelled out on the basis of a subjective, ambiguous form of merit. Dean Awn claims that the administration needs “to press students to be forthcoming.” What he fails to mention is that when previous student councils pressed the administration to be forthcoming about the criteria for receiving merit-based aid, they failed to present the council with any information, leaving students in the dark to wonder how they could possibly tap into one of the only viable resources of financial aid available to them. Dean Awn thinks that “students have a romanticized vision of financial aid at CC,” but the numbers don’t lie. If past years are any indication, Dean Awn either has a romanticized vision of the extent of the financial crisis facing many GS students, or he and the administration are unable and unwilling to discuss new approaches in these most urgent times.
Alex Katz, GS/JTS ’11
Former vice president of student life, GSSC
Dec. 2, 2009
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