University of West Florida spring disbursements of the Florida Student Assistant Grant will be reduced nearly 27 percent.

Cathy Brown, director of student financial aid, said the deduction in aid is a result of an increase in students applying and qualifying.

"We make projections of how many students will attend, and awards are based on those projections," Brown said.

The grant, which is awarded to students based on their financial need, was originally $600. It will be reduced to $440 in the spring semester.

Brown said the incoming freshmen that apply to more than one school make it hard to predict the actual number of incoming students.

“It is not that the funding was cut," Brown said. "Disbursements were just reduced because now more students are eligible to receive the grant.”

In October, the financial aid office notified students of the changes via e-mail.

“We tried to notify students as soon as possible so they could plan ahead by getting a job or applying for a short-term loan,” said Jan Bass, associate director of student financial aid.

“Everyone’s grant was cut by $160 so we would not create a deficit in the program,” Bass said.

Financial Aid offers short-term loans for students, but these loans must be repaid before the semester is over.

According to the Florida Department of Education’s Web site, each participating institution determines application deadlines, student eligibility and award amounts. The University has the right to control the amount of aid disbursed.

The University receives funding for the grant through the Department of Education. The Department of Education determines the amount each post secondary institution receives based on the number of students that qualify for financial aid at that institution.

Bass said UWF’s student population is increasing, but could not give the number or percentage of increase.

It is uncertain if the school will be given more funding for the grant next fall. For more information about UWF's Financial Aid office, visit www.uwf.edu/finaid.

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