To calculate merit allocations, the formula multiplies 3.5 percent of undergraduate students by the actual tuition and fees and 2 percent of the graduate enrollment by the graduate tuition. The New Dollars column of Table 2 shows the percent of the current year financial aid appropriation that is being directed to those institutions that are proportionally under-funded. All other institutions receive proportionately less. In general, highly selective colleges and two-year community colleges with enrollment increases received the greatest merit increases. The impact of this year s allocation is fairly minimal because the 1999-2000 institutional base is protected, approximately 95 percent of the appropriation.
Staff proposes to protect a progressively smaller share of the base in each of the next three years.
To further simplify administration and reporting, dollars allocated for merit programs to proprietary schools are being converted to the need-based program. The commission shall use a portion of any moneys remaining after meeting the requirements of parts 2 and 3 of this article to provide other programs of financial assistance based upon financial need, merit, talent, or other criteria established by the commission for students enrolled at institutions.