Rick Montañez
Assistant Editor

Any college student will agree the process for student loans is full of paperwork and confusion. This is why the University of La Verne Corporate Associates held its fall business lecture and luncheon Nov. 16 at the Sheraton Suites Fairplex.

ULV Corporate Associates invited Thomas Fitzpatrick, chief executive officer of Sallie Mae Corp., to speak about “Trends in Higher Education and the Impact on Financial Aid.”

“I love these things,” said Mercy-Faith Kimbwala, a senior business administration major. “It’s a chance to mingle with the power players of the community.”

It has been widely known that a way for people to start their path to the American Dream is by earning a college degree. The degree has always come with a price tag.

Financial aid is supposed to help to cushion the blow to pocket books, but rising costs and government cut backs, along with miles of confusing paperwork has made it more difficult for students to understand how financial aid works.

Fitzpatrick spoke on how students, parents and the government can combat the difficulties financial aid is going through.

Along with speaking about financial aid, the luncheon served as a fundraiser for student scholarships.

“The money is going toward business students,” Patrick Lee, a junior accounting major, said. “They want to bring in more money for ULV.”

“It’s about promoting scholarship,” Kimbwala said.           

Stephen Morgan, ULV president, said the University has about 8,500 students and that more than half of them will be eligible for aid.

“More than $50 million of that will come from aid, $16 million in scholarships and $30 million will come from state, federal and private sources,” Morgan said.

Morgan said these are issues that are most effectively addressed by educated people. Morgan introduced Fitzpatrick who began by speaking about the cost of college.

Fitzpatrick, asked if the cost of college was too high, and in answering his own question, said it depends on individual perception.

Smaller schools like ULV cost more – they are privately run and funded – whereas larger schools, like those in the California State system, cost significantly less.

Fitzpatrick pulled up a chart that showed an 84 percent drop out rate in higher education in the mid-1970s.

 In 2006, there is a 33 percent drop-out rate.

The trends show more people going to school, and with the help of companies like Sallie Mae more students are getting the financial aid they need.

There is now less money spent by the states on school in many areas of the country this adds to the difficulty and rising costs of college.

Also, it is more difficult for spending to be directed toward schools when the people who have a voice in Congress are the older people.

The traditionally younger students do not have the same voice in Congress and other outlets to get more money spent on schools.

“We can’t miss a generation,” Fitzpatrick said.

There are several companies that are helping people save money either for them to go back to school or their children. Upromise.com is one of the companies that is partnering with Sallie Mae to help people save for college.

For more information on financial aid you can visit www.salliemae.com or www.upromise.com.

Rick Montañez can be reached at rick.montanez@hotmail.com.