The Division of Financial Aid at Purdue University
is committed to providing a high level of service to support
students in achieving their academic goals by helping to remove
the financial barriers of college attendance. The Divisions
mission is to offer coordinated delivery of comprehensive
student aid programs that are supportive of the recruitment
and retention of academically talented and diverse students.
Our vision is to create a climate that promotes
continuous improvement as a way of serving students, parents,
and the University community. We will implement a student
aid delivery system that will serve as a model to other institutions.
We will establish collaborative partnerships both on and off
campus to obtain and coordinate financial resources for Purdue
University students. Exemplary training and outreach activities
will be offered to the University community and other publics.
Our vision is to provide an environment in which exemplary
customer service can flourish.
As participants in the U. S. Department of Education Quality
Assurance Program, our goal is to ensure that the delivery
of student aid funds is conducted accurately, expediently,
and with integrity.
Policy Governing Student Financial Aid
As Indiana’s Land-Grant University, Purdue embraces the principle of extending access to higher education to a diverse body of qualified students. Since it’s founding in 1869, Purdue has grown from a single campus in West Lafayette to a multi-campus university system, thus allowing greater access to an affordable Purdue degree. Each Purdue campus defines access and affordability in relationship to its strategic plan.
The strategic plan of Purdue – West Lafayette delineates its vision to achieve preeminence among the world-class institutions of higher education. The plan suggests that Purdue “Recruit and retain academically talented undergraduate and graduate students with exemplary support for them to achieve success…” and “Enhance human and intellectual diversity among students…” Thus, Purdue’s policy that governs student financial aid awards is based on financial need, academic merit, and the need to enhance diversity through these awards.
The first priority for financial aid is given to students with demonstrated financial need. Through this priority, Purdue ensures that the needs of Indiana residents are addressed based on available student aid funds each year.
Academically talented students are awarded merit-based financial aid on a competitive basis as they demonstrate their academic achievements. These students may also qualify for need-based aid when eligible, just as needy students may qualify for merit-based aid as well.
Through the need-based and the merit-based aid programs, Purdue also attempts to enhance student diversity in order to provide an academic environment that is conducive to educating all students for a multicultural workforce and society, and for cultivating civic leaders who are reflective of our diverse society. Purdue extends and expands opportunities for higher education to a wide range of populations in Indiana and the nation through the aid programs.
Purdue optimizes the use of various sources of student financial aid including federal and state aid funds, institutional scholarships and grants, student employment, loan programs, and privately funded grants based on donor intent. Eligible students are awarded financial aid packages that include funds from one or more of these sources. Based on the extent of aid funds available each year, Purdue distributed these funds to cover as much of the educational costs to eligible students as possible.
Purdue’s long-term goal in student financial aid is to systematically reduce the various levels of dependency on students’ loans in the aid packages so as to reduce the indebtedness of students, particularly those with financial need, upon their graduation from Purdue. To that end, Purdue remains committed to increasing grant and scholarship funds from public and private sources.
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