Financial Aid

WHEN YOUR little boy is fighting a brutal form of cancer, the last thing you want is to expose his frail health to anything viral. Last week, when Paul and Maria VanNocker let me tell of their son Kyler's battle to receive a potentially life-saving treatment, his story went viral. This virus could save Kyler, not kill him. It's not just that financial aid has poured in: Everything from a widow's $5 money order to an astounding offer, from an anonymous donor, of at least $35,000 toward Kyler's treatment.

Parents are getting into the financial-aid business at Pennsylvania State University in what national officials say appears to be a unique effort. In the university's Schreyer Honors College, parents are encouraging those who can afford it to give a gift to the college equivalent to their child's $3,500 merit scholarship, so that it can be diverted to other honors students who need more aid to help them stay in school. "When you pay that tuition bill, I am asking you to assess whether you 'need' the scholarship and, if you do not, please join me and my husband by making a donation in the amount of the scholarship . . . " wrote Center City parent Kristin Hayes in letters mailed to 150 families last month.

AS A SOON-to-be junior at Temple, I assumed I'd spend the summer choosing between fall internships and places to live, but certainly not deciding whether I'd be able to continue my education because of the actions of the state Legislature. Now, with only weeks before the first day of the fall semester, I (and more than 35,000 of my peers) am facing a tuition increase that may double the cost of my education. Many of us will be forced to withdraw indefinitely, and the implications could have a devastating effect on our futures, collectively and individually.

Letters of appeal have poured into financial-aid offices this year at colleges around the region - and the country - as cash-strapped families seek more money to keep their children in school or to get them started. The mother of an incoming freshman at Immaculata University wrote of being hit by a car, leaving her unable to work in her field and drastically lowering the family income. Another family's college-savings fund evaporated in the market downturn. Others noted layoffs, reduced work hours, losses in home-equity lines of credit, and other financial woes that had arisen or worsened since they initially applied for federal, state, and institutional aid. The increases are evident at a wide spectrum of schools, from state-related institutions to small liberal-arts colleges to larger universities.

Tuition and fees at Rutgers University will go up 3 percent in the coming school year, the school's Board of Governors decided yesterday. A typical in-state undergraduate in the School of Arts and Sciences will pay $9,546 in tuition and $2,340 in mandatory fees. There also will be a 4.4 percent increase in housing and dining rates. That's considerably less than last year's 8.5 percent tuition increase, which came on the heels of a $35.6 million state funding cut. This year, Gov. Corzine and the Legislature undid proposed budget cuts to higher education, but sought a 3 percent cap on tuition and fee increases.

Nearly 30 private and state-related colleges and trade schools in the Philadelphia area have agreed to participate in a program that will give far-reaching financial aid to veterans who have had active service since 9/11. They are among more than 700 schools nationwide that have reached agreements with the Department of Veterans Affairs to take part in the Yellow Ribbon program. The list is expected to be completed by the end of the month. The program will begin in August and is expected to swell the ranks of college-going veterans by 25 percent, said Keith M. Wilson, the VA's education service director.

For years, I've argued that high school seniors - especially in Philadelphia - should be required to pursue higher-education options. Doing so could be a component of senior projects that are already required. The new requirement would be simple: Every single graduating senior must successfully apply to a community or four-year college, or to a trade or technical academy. In addition, each senior must complete an application for government financial aid or a scholarship of his or her choice.

Private colleges got closer to their fall enrollment targets this week, thanks to a finish-line spurt in student sign-ups, but in this tough economic climate, the schools had to put out more in financial aid to bring freshmen in. Many colleges spent the admissions season worrying whether they could fill their ranks with the same number and quality of students as last year, given the financial problems families are facing. Some schools are heavily dependent on tuition to pay their bills.

In a move made two months earlier than usual, Temple University yesterday approved its lowest tuition increase in 13 years and gave financial aid the largest one-year boost in its history. The state-related university usually waits to approve its spending plan until closer to Pennsylvania's budget adoption so that aid dollars can be best predicted. But officials said yesterday that they wanted to give families more time to plan how they will pay for college, given the economic turmoil.

With six children, money has always been tight for the Gorelick family of Cherry Hill. "Lab technicians aren't rich," said Robert Gorelick, who earns $41,000 a year at the Coriell Institute for Medical Research in Camden. "Pays the bills," chimed in his stay-at-home wife, Janet, with a smile. Now they face sending their firstborn off to college. Times two. While Cooper and Sam - identical twins - are strong students at Cherry Hill High School West, both are prepared to go to community college for the first two years if they can't get enough aid. Cooper is even game to live at home and commute to Temple or Philadelphia University, where he has been accepted, or to Drexel if he gets in. "I like living here.