Want to live off campus? You'll lose financial aid starting in the Fall

Muskingum students who plan to live off campus starting in the fall of this year may see up to $1,500 taken off of their grant assistance from their Muskingum University Financial Aid package.

Students who are currently living off-campus at the time of the policy change will not be affected by this change.

“The main reason for doing this is resources,” said Jeff Zellers, Vice President of Enrollment.

Muskingum University has seen a 13 percent increase in the need for institutional financial aid for incoming and current students due to the economy and recent grant losses from the state of Ohio.

“That jump of 13 percent is not going to go down this year,” said Zellers. “We will be accommodating this financial aid increase from this point forward, in addition to normal year-to-year increases.”

Zellers continued by stating it is better for Muskingum to help the student majority, that being the students who are in need of financial aid.

“Finding additional financial aid resources to help our students has been difficult. This money just doesn’t come from anywhere,” said Zellers. “It either comes from budget cuts or increased revenues.”

The university has decided that one way to maximize revenues is to try to keep more students on campus.

Some students may still decide that moving off campus is something that can be done in terms of finances, even after this policy change.

However, others may rethink moving after seeing up to $1,500 cut from their grant assistance.

Those who do decide to remain on campus will see no change in their financial aid packages or on-campus resources.

“We want to encourage students to live on –campus because we have the resources to do so,” said Amy Gooden, Assistant Director of Student Financial Services.

The grant assistance to be reduced refers in most cases to the Muskingum Grant, which is a grant awarded by the university based on students’ financial needs.

Scholarships and awards of circumstance, however, are protected by a contractual agreement and would never change due to residential status.
“Scholarships and awards of circumstance will never be reduced due to moving off campus,” said Gump.

Commuting students, or students who live at home with their parents, already receive less grant assistance because they are not paying for room and board charges.

Although this policy change may increase the number of on-campus residents, there will not be any additions of residence halls in the near future, besides the current Kappa Sigma housing renovation.

The former Kappa Sigma house is going to provide housing for 32 students, both males and females starting next fall.

“We always do maintenance on the program houses and the dorms during the summer, but there will be no further additions,” said Jim Wilson, Vice President for Business and Finance a Muskingum University.

“We have no immediate plans to build new residence halls.”