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Last year, university faculty and staff felt the impact of the recession with furloughs and layoffs, and students tightened their budgets to save money in tough times.
Now, with the data in from last year and projections for this upcoming year, it appears that financial aid offices have seen the effects of the recession as well.
While loan offices will not have finalized data for this school year until next June, it is already apparent that the number of loans is on the rise.
"Both the number of loans processed as well as the amount of money being given out has seen a notable increase," said Ed Miller, director of Student Financial Aid and Scholarships.
Chuck Sanders, president and CEO of the South Carolina Student Loan Corporation, has seen this trend on a statewide level. While this loan corporation is unable to extract data specific for the university, USC's status as the largest university in South Carolina has a big affect on statewide data.
Last school year, there was a 31 percent increase in Stafford Loans from the previous year and an 18 percent increase in applications. As of July 1 this year, there has already been a 20 percent increase in the number of loans requested compared to 2008.
The South Carolina Student Loan Corporation lent $671 million dollars to students for the 2008-09 school year, a $125 million increase from 2007-08.
Over $300 million has been borrowed for the 2009-10 already and this amount will continue to increase throughout the school year.
Sanders attributes the increased loans to the recession, but also the state of the economy as a whole.
With lines of credit through banks and tuition increases, it becomes harder for students to manage funds on their own, and they have to seek out help through outside lenders.
Both Miller and Sanders expressed that they want students to borrow the minimum amount of funds necessary for school.
"We are a non-profit organization," said Sanders. "It's in our best interest to have people with loan amounts they can handle after graduation."
Sanders encourages students to seek out grants and scholarships before applying for a loan.
"We don't want people in huge amounts of debt upon leaving school," Sanders said.
Miller encourages students to meet with the financial aid office as soon as possible. With increased difficulty in finding loans and tuition increases, the university's financial aid office is working harder to help students make ends meet and fill in gaps within tuition.
"We want to make sure that every student knows about as many aid options as there are available," said Miller. "The earlier people come in, the more we can help them explore all their options."
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