Has West Virginia University increased unfunded aid to students?

West Virginia University administrators have been grappling with fallout from budget shortfalls. Facing reduced revenue, the university is pursuing cutbacks in selected academic departments, including foreign languages.

As the university’s trustees were approving a budget for fiscal year 2024 — including a 3% hike in tuition and fees — Paula Congelio, the university’s chief financial officer and vice president, emphasized WVU’s continuing commitment to providing financial aid to undergraduates and graduate students in a June 23 university news release.

"We take every tuition increase very seriously, but we work diligently to leverage federal, state and externally funded financial aid to our students so the cost is manageable," Congelio said. "The university has also increased the amount of unfunded institutional aid provided to students and expects this amount to exceed $134 million in 2024."

"Unfunded institutional aid," also called internally funded aid, is one of WVU’s two major types of financial assistance to students. 

One type is aid funded by outside sources, including federal Pell Grants; other types of federal, state, and local aid; and support from foundations. The other type of aid comes from the university, including merit-based undergraduate and graduate tuition waivers and institutional scholarships.

Internally funded aid is the larger of the two aid pools; in 2022, internally funded aid accounted for about two-thirds of WVU’s student aid. That proportion has been fairly consistent in recent years.

Every year from 2014 to 2023, WVU increased the amount of internally funded aid to undergraduate and graduate students. Cumulatively, internally funded aid is about 2.6 times as high as it was a decade ago, rising from $51.6 million in 2014 to nearly $136 million in 2023.

However, internally funded aid is poised to drop in 2024, to the $134 million level Congelio cited. That would be the first drop in at least a decade, representing a decline of $1.8 million, or about 1.3%.

Combined with the budgeted tuition increases, this decrease will squeeze students, undercutting Congelio’s point. 

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stated on February 12, 2018 in a letter to the university community

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Congelio said WVU has "increased the amount of unfunded institutional aid provided to students and expects this amount to exceed $134 million in 2024."

Scholarship and tuition waivers at West Virginia University come in two major categories — aid supported by outside sources, such as governments or foundations, and aid provided by the university itself.

Every year from 2014 to 2023, WVU increased internally funded aid to undergraduate and graduate students. However, internally funded aid is poised to drop slightly in 2024, to about $134 million.

This cutback will worsen the squeeze on students, who will see tuition and fees rise by about 3%.

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