Fuqua screws students on loan assistance

Hey folks - thought you'd all like to know about the following.

As those who have looked carefully at Fuqua may know, they offer a Loan Assistance Program (LAP) to graduates going into "social sector" jobs - non-profits and the public sector. It basically pays for a big part of your loan each year for 10 years after graduation, and is progressive as you increase in income (phasing out at $100k/year). It's a really sweet program, and I know a lot of folks for whom it was a major factor in deciding to come to Fuqua.

Well, a couple of days ago, all LAP recipients got an email from the school alerting them that, out of the blue sky, the program was being slashed. Suddenly, the department had realized it didn't have enough money - apparently they had done no forecasting of demand - and so going forward, everyone's award was being halved or worse. For people who had made career (not to mention matriculation) decisions based on the LAP, this was a shock, since it means thousands of dollars out of their pocket each year. There wasn't even a full funding cycle warning, as you'd expect (about six months) - just a "heads up, you're on your own now, suckers" email.

I'm not on the LAP, but a lot of friends of mine who decided to take jobs at $70-$90k a year in non-profits or government agencies are. The LAP allowed them to do this, and now they've been left out in the cold. They honestly believed all the rhetoric Fuqua (and many other schools) babble on about on how they're "committed" to service, or the social sector, or so forth. Let this be a warning to all of you - you're a customer at your school. After you stop paying tuition checks, expect the level of your school's "commitment" to change dramatically. Fuqua is not unique in this respect at all - basically every other school is the same.