Racial, ethnic and economic minority students will not be disappearing from MSU lecture halls and dorm rooms this fall if the College Access and Opportunity Act passes.
The bill, which recently was proposed in the U.S. House of Representatives, would give more money to specific minority-serving institutions, but it also would cover different types of financial aid available to all middle and low income students, regardless of where they go.
The bill would increase the number of Pell Grants, by a yet to be determined number. These grants would award money from the federal government that doesn't need to be repaid to undergraduate students. It will also raise loan limits for first- and second-year students, without increasing interest.
"It gives a chance to get used to college without having a great deal of debt, so the more grant money you get, the better you are," said Val Meyers, associate director of MSU's Office of Financial Aid.
But incoming MSU students who plan on taking out loans will remain largely unaffected because the university is partnered with several of the state's banks to ensure students don't have to pay interest.
If the bill passes, the Pell Grant money could be usable for the entire year, not just the fall and spring semesters. Meyers said this will encourage students to follow suit with MSU President M. Peter McPherson's push to graduate within four years.
"A lot of students are here longer than four years and going to summer school would help them with that," Meyers said.
The bill also would update loan limits for first and second year students without increasing overall debt. Meyers said this could turn out to be good or bad for not only MSU students, but all college students.
"When you're a freshman or a sophomore, you can't borrow as much as when you're a junior or a senior," she said. "They could borrow a lot, then drop out, but then they'd have to repay the loan, and often they can't because they didn't get a degree."
Pursuing his doctorate in music composition at MSU, Harold Cowherd said the money going toward minority-serving institutions would probably take away from the diversity that traditional state institutions like MSU and the University of Michigan are striving so hard to achieve.
Cowherd, who is black, earned an Affirmative-Action Graduate Assistantship through the Urban Affairs Program, but all the money he once was guaranteed is slowly dwindling away, as it did for his peers.
"I know five people of color not back here because of financial problems," he said. "People of color have it worse because historically less options are available to them."
Because of the opportunities and resources offered at MSU, students have said the university's minority population will be unaffected if the bill passes.
"I don't think it'd take away from the diversity here," said Jodi Levine, a recent zoology graduate. "Those colleges are usually smaller anyway. A larger university like MSU would give more opportunities, especially in the research aspect."
Despite the fact Hispanic-serving institutions would receive more money, Nancy Perez, a senior at Lansing's Eastern High School, said she would not choose to go there over a traditional, public university.
Perez plans to attend MSU in the fall, not just because of the academic opportunities, but because she will meet people of different backgrounds.
"I like being around different people," she said. "Not just Mexican and Latinos. That's what my family, my culture, is. But that's not all I want to know."
Minority-serving institutions are just another option open to students, said Leslie Johnson, a high school guidance counselor at Waverly High School in Lansing.
"We do have some students every year that are going to a historically black college or university that also have the option to go to Michigan State or U-of-M, but in this region, at Waverly, many students are still looking at traditional schools," Johnson said. "MSU and Michigan turn down kids every year, so having these options only helps."
