Scholarship endowments designed for an earlier era are hopelessly inadequate for today's needs. What we have to give falls woefully short of the need. The University's Office of Financial Aid does an excellent job with its resources, but they also are inadequate.
Needy students take out loans, work extra hours, or drop out altogether.
The result for many is delayed graduation, reduced grades and diminished expectations. We have written two fictionalized case histories drawn from the Plan II files to illustrate the effect of financial hardship on our students. Brent's mother has an entry-level government job and cannot send him money, and his father has been absent from the picture for many years. He has taken a job as a waiter in a large chain restaurant, where he often has to work the late shift, staying as late as 3 a.m. to close down. Brent's professors have identified him as an excellent thinker who makes occasionally brilliant observations in class discussion.