FINANCIAL AFFAIRS
Section 705 Financial Aid

Effective: 1/28/76
Last Revised: 1/25/99; 7/14/08
Responsible Office: Finance

Authority and Procedures

The Board of Trustees shall have oversight of matters related to financial aid policy and associated planning.  Responsibility is delegated to the Chancellor for assuring that financial aid planning and policy development is conducted by each institution and for the University of Maine System as a whole.  This process will include an opportunity for the Presidents to describe and discuss financial aid plans or policies for each respective campus to the Finance Committee of the Board, including the characteristics of aid recipients, the effectiveness of aid programs in supporting academic retention and graduation of students, and other matters pertinent to the broad goals of the Board of Trustees.  

Each year in May, the Board of Trustees shall approve the budget for University funded financial aid programs (unrestricted scholarships and waivers).

No less than every two years, a Financial Aid Report will be prepared and presented to the Board of Trustees concerning financial aid programs, including trends and changes in federal, state, and University funded programs.

Goals of Student Financial Aid Policy

The Board of Trustees delegates to the Chancellor, who in turn delegates to the President of each University System institution, responsibility for assuring that the institution develops and maintains policies guiding all activities related to program compliance and reporting of financial aid.  The University of Maine System shall establish financial aid policies giving consideration to the following goals:

  1. Promote broad access to higher education
  2. Improve the affordability of higher education
  3. Retain talented students in the state
  4. Promote student retention and degree completion
  5. Recognize talent and reward effort of students
  6. Prepare and place students into specific pathways
  7. Establish and promote programs to encourage graduates from the Maine Community College System interested in pursuing a four year degree
  8. Consider annual increases in financial aid when tuition increases