Budget cuts could leave more than 350 UI students and 23,000 students statewide without part of their financial aid next semester.

Under preliminary budget plans released by the governor’s office last week, roughly $6.6 million would be cut from grant and scholarship programs offered by the Iowa College Student Aid Commission. The reduction comes as part of Gov. Chet Culver’s 10 percent across-the-board cuts to the state budget.

The commission serves around 25,000 students across the state, and nearly 23,000 of them would be affected by the cuts, said Brenda Easter, the director of communication for the Iowa College Aid Commission. At the UI, 361 students receive funds from the commission totaling more than $938,000, said Mark Warner, the director of the UI Office of Student Financial Aid.

Easter said officials haven’t completed plans, and it’s difficult to determine the effect the cuts will have on students.

“It’s hard to say what that impact’s going to be,” she said. “It’s going to vary by each student.”

UI freshman Adrien Zagabe said while he does not receive grants from the commission, he sympathizes with the students who will be affected.

Coupled with a proposed spring semester surcharge and a possible hike in tuition next year, less financial aid could push some students out of the UI, he said.

“I think it’s terrible,” Zagabe said. “I think people are going to start transferring.”

Easter said the reductions will likely affect students’ aid packages for the spring semester, and she hoped to have the plans completed by the end of November.

Fewer students from regent universities will feel an effect from the cuts because the majority of funds distributed by the commission go to students at private institutions. Because regent universities receive support from the state general fund, the commission caters more to students at privately funded schools, Easter said.

Warner said the UI makes up for the lack of outside financial aid by diverting roughly 20 percent of all tuition revenue to grant and scholarship programs. The Tuition Set Aside Allocation increases as tuition does, he said, something state grants or scholarships wouldn’t do.

Students who find themselves with fewer funds next semester must look for any other possible means to finance their education, Easter said.

“We’re hoping there will be other types of resources available to them,” Easter said.

The preliminary plans reflect a worst-case scenario, she said, and she was optimistic the cuts will not be as drastic.

“We’re hoping the impacts will be less,” Easter said. “No guarantees, obviously.”