"Questions? Don't worry, we have answers."

That reassurance is found on the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency Web site right after an apology for what is becoming for many a financially inconvenient truth.

The budget stalemate is seeping into the pores of every state-funded agency and many are beginning to crack. Colleges and universities - where students rely on state funding to attend - are among those attempting to patch the fissure.

Penn State University, Juniata College and Mount Aloysius College are among the schools keeping the cash flow moving to avoid losing students who might otherwise have to drop out of school because they could not come up with money the state promised.

A November report on the cost of higher education in Pennsylvania from the state's Department of Education said PHEAA provides $452 million in aid to students annually.

Penn State is temporarily covering $25 million in PHEAA grants for its students, because the PHEAA grant can't be disbursed until the state budget is in place, Penn State Altoona's Director of Student Aid David Pearlman said.

The estimated maximum PHEAA grant for students attending universities such as Penn State and the University of Pittsburgh for the fall semester is $1,885, he said.

Mount Aloysius spokeswoman Jackie A. Robertson-Gutshall said 64 percent of the student population at the Cresson college receives PHEAA grants, and the school is putting up $2.7 million.

"We are 100 percent operational," she said.

Half of the Pennsylvania students at Juniata College in Huntingdon have received state grants, Juniata College Financial Planning Director Valerie Rennell said, adding the college has gotten some calls from concerned parents and students.

Juniata College is covering $700,000 in PHEAA grants this semester.

"We want to be able to help them and help them plan," Rennell said of students.

The matter has some students at Penn State Altoona worried, but the university was able to step in and put up the money to keep them in classes, Pearlman said.

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TheWizardOfOZ
08-31-09 7:50 AM »Report Abuse	So...what are the guys we pay $300K a year doing now then at the PHEAA??

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