Two administrators from the Office of Student Financial Aid office addressed University Academic Senate March 23 about the Feb. 23 New America report accusing Marquette University of pushing low-income families into high-risk loans.
“It’s just not something we do,” Brian Troyer, vice president for enrollment management, said at the meeting.
Rather than offering more money in scholarships to students with financial need, study author Stephen Burd said, the money is being offered to wealthier, high-achieving students to boost the university’s rankings. To fill this gap, the study said, Marquette is pushing lower-income families to take out Parent PLUS Loans — a federal loan option with no borrowing limits, minimal requirements and higher interest rates.
But Troyer pushed back, defending the financial aid office’s process.
“We actually take a couple additional steps to ensure that students — particularly low-income students — aren’t feeling like they’re being pressured into a particular decision,” he said.
Among those best practices, Troyer said, Marquette doesn’t immediately show families what loans could do for the total cost of attendance. Instead, families are shown the tuition after scholarships and aid, but before loans.
The bottom line is that the financial aid office isn’t training or telling admissions counselors to push high-risk loans to low income families and parents, Troyer said.
Zack Goodwin, assistant vice president of student financial aid, said while the study accused Marquette of prioritizing merit aid for medium to high-income students, leaving less resourced families with a heavier financial burden, the university’s data shows a different trend.
“Our least resourced families, on average, borrow about 40% less than our other families,” he said.
Goodwin also said lower-income students are able to recoup what they paid for their education in less than two years post-graduation.
Troyer added that the financial aid office is looking to make long-term changes to the the amount of unmet financial need.
Goodwin also said Marquette has been able to meet about 85% of financial need for families of enrolled students.
When Troyer was asked if there’s been any fallout from the report, Troyer responded, “I would say no. Not that I’m aware of.”
This story was written by Sophia Tiedge. She can be reached at [email protected].
