Baby Grants

In response to recent proposals, the Student Council may drop out of the scholarship business and turn its Grants-in-Aid program over to the Financial Aid Center. Equipped with confidential statements and a broader view of student needs, the Center could make far better use of these funds. At present, the two bodies compete in the small grant field, where the Council's limited information opens Grants-in-Aid to the entrepreneur as well as the needy.

While a lean and hungry look does not always denote financial need, the Council has little more basis for administering its program. An applicant just tallies up his income and his expenses to enter the competition. Denied access to Financial Aid's files, the Council can only hope these tallies are accurate. The only checks are student-run interviews. But because the interviews lack the assured secrecy offered by the University program, applicants often do not state their whole case. Moreover, preferential treatment is more likely where applicant and administrator may have had previous contact.

While there were evident disadvantages in an aid program administered by students, the small grants, alone in their field until several years ago, were valuable fillers in the scholarship program. These doles of ten or twenty dollars often provided students with the last defense against an overloaded term bill. But now that the Financial Aid Center offers the same service, the Council need no longer continue its program independently.