http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=49230

Putting to rest the myth of a ‘free ride'

Dorreen Yellow Bird
- 09/05/2007

As the angry voices over UND's nickname and logo grew to a fevered pitch,
one assertion stood out as being so blatantly incorrect that it needs to be
corrected and never repeated. It is this: The claim that American Indian
students somehow get a “free ride” at UND.

This claim was made again and again in some 120 comments that hit the
Herald's Web site Thursday in connection with a nickname story (“Group
rescinds support,” Page 1A). But it's one of those untruths that is so
flagrant, it makes all other arguments from nickname supporters seem false.

When I spoke about the issue Thursday with Robert Boyd, UND's vice
president for student and outreach services, he said - with some
frustration in his voice - that he didn't know where these kinds of rumors
or assertions start. American Indian students get the same financial aid
consideration as do any other student, he said.

So, let me tell you from the lips of Boyd and Robin Holden, director of the
student financial aid office: All undergraduate students who are eligible
(according to a needs assessment by the financial aid office) get a
financial-aid package from the university. This package typically includes
a mix of grants, waivers, loans and a “work study” amount that, when added
to the contribution expected from the student and the student's family,
totals the expected cost of a year's study at UND.

That budget, which includes tuition, fees, living expenses and so on,
typically falls in the $15,000 to $16,000 range. This meets the student's
basic needs.

I repeat, all students who have financial need get this financial aid
package, regardless of their ethnic background. The grant and loan amounts
vary among students depending in part on their level of need.

Virtually all college students in the United States are eligible for public
and private scholarships. These scholarships range from $50 (common) to
$100,000 (very rare).

The scholarships are offered to people who fall into hundreds of different
categories, the financial aid office told me. Some of categories include
women, men, athletes, older students, Lutherans, Catholics, veterans,
children of veterans, children of veterans who were awarded the Purple
Heart and so on.

And of these hundreds of scholarships, some are set up for American Indian
students. Two of the most common - and least understood -are tribal
education funds and UND's cultural diversity tuition waivers.

Tribal education offices on reservations provide some scholarships that go
into some - not all - American Indian students' financial aid packages.
These grants are similar to the “hometown scholarships” that various
farsighted towns across America offer to their high-school graduates.

The second scholarship is a program UND calls its “Undergraduate Cultural
Diversity Tuition Waivers;” and on the Herald's Web site, there was much
talk about so-called “free tuition” offered through these waivers.

Well, my friends, these “diversity waivers” are indeed available at UND.
They are, however, offered not only to some American Indians, but also to
“all other under-represented groups,” according to the university's Web
site. That category includes “economically disadvantaged students,”
regardless of race. And there are a limited number of waivers available.

Those who benefit from the program see their undergraduate tuition waived,
but not their living expenses or fees. Through separate programs, partial
tuition waivers are given to some graduate or medical students.

The bottom line of the complicated subject of financial aid is this: Yes,
American Indian students do qualify for some designated scholarship
dollars. But so do other students, virtually all of whom fall into one or
more of the many qualifying categories available.

Furthermore, scholarships and waivers for American Indians seldom grant
anything close to a “free ride.” Instead, American Indian students
typically graduate owing thousands of dollars in student loans. In fact, I
don't know any American Indian student who doesn't have loans to pay back -
and some of the loans are astounding.

Consider this: An American Indian friend of mine is a former financial aid
counselor, so she knows where to look for funding. She is a graduate
student - and so far, she owes $90,000 in student loans.

Tell her that American Indians get a “free ride.”