By Wade McMillin
Trail Co-Editor

Most Northwest College students look outside their pocketbooks when it comes to paying for college as nearly 69 percent of students earned scholarships in 2006. The new Hathaway Scholarship made the number of scholarships go up as nearly 400 NWC students took advantage of the free money.
“It used to be, 70 percent of our students took out loans. The Hathaway may have changed that some for our freshman, because the students from Wyoming with the Hathaway, have a little bit more of their expenses covered so they’re not having to borrow as much,” NWC Financial Aid and Scholarships Director Bev Bell said. “That was the intention when the legislators wrote the Hathaway.”
Hathaway’s recent emergence is making scholarships the top way for NWC students to pay for college as Bell said $332,000 of private money will be divvyed out to 332 students, which averages to $1,002 per student. Overall, NWC gives out nearly $2 million in scholarships per year.
Bell believes that scholarships can be easily obtained as well and encourages anyone to try to apply. Scholarships can be either based on a student’s GPA or purely on the student as Bell reported that some scholarships only require a GPA of 2.0.
“I think it’s really actually pretty easy. If you take that time there’s a real good chance we’re going to say, ‘wow he let us know enough,’ what can we do to support him,” Bell said.
Overall Bell says that nearly 80 percent of Northwest College students receive some sort of financial aid through student loans, scholarships, Pell grants or student employment.
“That means we have a lot of options and we’re really trying to support students so it isn’t such a huge burden out of their pocket,” Bell said.
According to Bell, a Stafford loan through the federal government usually is the choice for students who need money. Stafford loans are either subsidized, in which the loan has a zero percent interest rate, or unsubsidized, which has a 6.8 percent interest rate. The federal government plans to decrease the interest rate to 3.4 percent by 2012.
“This last year there has been a lot of reorganization of student loan programs and financial aid and it (interest rates) is going down,” Bell said. “It may go back up and that’s appropriate since interest rates are so low right now.”
Bell says subsidized loans are for low-income families while unsubsidized loans go to middle and high-income families. Another popular loan is a parent loan, which is borrowed by a student’s parents and can be obtained if the student is considered dependent and is under 24 and unmarried.
With a parent loan, freshmen can borrow up to $3,500 per year and sophomores can see up to $4,000. Overall, Bell figures that NWC students roughly borrow up to $3 million per year.
“We still have a lot of students needing loans because going to school is expensive and while we are very cost conscious and economical at the community colleges in Wyoming, we are not expensive,” Bell says.
The federal government also issues Pell grants to needy students. Bell says the maximum allowance for Pell grant is $4,310 for students with the most need. Pell grants come from NWC’s involvement in Title Four aid, which is government money that students do not have to pay back.
The minimum amount received on Pell grants is $400 now but will be raised to $890 next year. Bell says nearly 600 NWC students receive Pell grants each year. The college also dishes out cash through a federal educational opportunity grant that helps 40 NWC students get $800.
Leveraging Educational Asistance Partnership Program (LEAPP), a state program, gives NWC $20,000 per year that goes to 40 students at $800 per student.
Student employment provides cash for students as nearly 300 students are employed at NWC. Just this year student employees saw a hike in their wages as the college chose to pay over the federal minimum wage of $5.85 per hour. Student employees are now paid $6.05.
Though some students choose not to use any financial aid, Bell finds scholarships to be the most popular way students pay for college.
“Nobody wants a loan because it has to be paid back so when students come in they prefer Pell grant and scholarships,” Bell said.