Sophomore Jesse McMillan was uncertain if he would be able to afford University tuition at the onset of the fall semester.

McMillan, like many students, felt the effects of Gov. Ted Strickland’s recently passed state budget, House Bill 1.

The budget cut state grant funding by $74 milllion, or 43 percent, said State Representative Randy Gardner (R-Bowling Green).

Gardner said according to the Ohio Board of Regents, these cuts reduced state college grant recipients by about 70,000 students. Numbers dropped from 128,619 students in the 2008-2009 school year to an estimated 58,636 students this year.

The main concern for college students was the Ohio College Opportunity Grant (OCOG), the main grant for Ohio students at the state level, Gardner said.

Many students like McMillan were given very little time to prepare when the OCOG cut passed July 13.

‘I got an e-mail in the summer stating that my financial aid was all done being packaged, so I went online and found out myself that it was not nearly enough for a year here,’ McMillan said.

Many of his loans were cut, in addition to the OCOG.

McMillan said he was very dependent on the OCOG because he is an independent student. His financial aid is only based off of his income, not his parents’. To be able to attend the University this fall, McMillan moved all of his spring semester financial aid to the fall semester and went through an appeal process called a Special Consideration Application that was eventually approved, he said.

‘Overall, after the appeal I got another $7,000 in loans, grants and scholarships,’ he said.

McMillan said he knows some students won’t be as motivated as he was to go through the appeal process and despite that fact, not all students will be approved.

‘There were just so many hoops to jump through this time around. Without the help of my financial advisor, I’m not sure how I would even be standing here on campus today,’ he said.

Stephanie Seim, a junior living off-campus, also said she was feeling financial stress from her OCOG being cut in half. She was notified through e-mail just a couple of weeks before school started.

Unlike McMillan, Seim was unable to reclaim her grant.

‘I was planning on using my refund check for rent and utilities and anything else I may have needed throughout the semester, but when I found out that my OCOG had been cut in half, I realized that I would only be getting a $318 refund check, which doesn’t last long with a college student,’ she said.

Seim said although she was not completely dependent on the OCOG, she assumed the grant she received since her freshman year was secure.

‘This year I have learned it isn’t,’ she said. ‘It is really upsetting to see yourself getting so much money in grants and scholarships and the next day you look and a large amount is gone.’

Gardner said one of the many reasons he voted against the budget was how the grant cuts would affect students.

‘I think more should have been done to help students directly in this very tough economic time,’ he said. ‘This is a time when higher education is more important than ever.’

Unfortunately, Gardner said, the cuts in college grant funding have only begun. More cuts of up to 20 percent are expected for the 2010-2011 school year, and Gardner said he is very concerned for the immediate future.

‘No one can predict what will happen in two years, but I’m very concerned,’ he said. ‘The way that this budget is structured makes it seem the problem will get worse before it gets better. We relied so much on one-time federal money that it will be very difficult to replace those dollars in two years. Higher education will undergo a very tough budget.’