Lopez, Krupicka, Surovell: Change in UVA Financial Aid Program Could Hurt Low-Income Students

By Raytevia Evans

A trio of Virginia Democratic state delegates — Alfonso Lopez in Arlington, Scott Surovell in Mount Vernon and Rob Krupicka in Alexandria — wrote a letter this month to Rector George Martin at the University of Virginia board of visitors to object to cuts to AccessUVa.

A board action this summer replaces financial aid given out as grants through AccessUVa, the university's financial aid program, with subsidized loans, according to the Cavalier Daily.

The Northern Virginia delegates asked the board to reconsider that move and to include loans as part of every financial aid package, the student newspaper reported.

“Such a debt load will almost certainly deter some deserving students from attending U.Va. or making it to graduation day; for others it will limit the options available to them upon graduation,” the delegates' letter states.

Lopez, Krupicka and Surovell said in the letter that the AccessUVa program gave students a chance to receive an education from a top institution, students who would not have had that chance otherwise.

Low-income students would be especially burdened, they said.