Photo by Emma Quirk ‘26.
One father told Mount Holyoke News that he took out a $30,000 loan for his daughter’s schooling.
By Mariam Keita ’24, Madhavi Rao ’24 and Emily Tarinelli ’25
Editor-in-Chief | Features Editor | Sports Editor
The Mount Holyoke College Board of Trustee’s decision to significantly raise its cost of attendance for the 2023-2024 school year has inspired renewed conversations about how financial aid is calculated at the institution.
Mount Holyoke News reached out to current students, staff members, parents and former students who transferred to other institutions, citing financial struggles as a significant factor in their decision to continue their studies elsewhere, to learn more about financial aid processes at Mount Holyoke College. Mount Holyoke News also spoke with several individuals who have interacted with Student Financial Services to understand better how the office responds to federal financial aid policies, which factors determine how much aid a student receives, and how the appeals process operates.
Together, these portraits depict the difficult reality for students who are forced to leave Mount Holyoke due to financial circumstances out of their control.
How Mount Holyoke calculates student financial aid
Every institution has internal metrics for calculating a student’s financial need and how best to disburse financial aid. Mount Holyoke belongs to the Consortium on Financing Higher Education, a network of 39 liberal arts colleges that have voluntarily committed to meeting the full demonstrated need of all admitted students.
Some of these schools have also committed to refrain from packaging loans for students receiving need-based aid, including fellow members of the Five College Consortium. Amherst College switched over to a no-loan model in the 2008-09 academic year. In Oct. 2021, Smith College transitioned to this model with the Fall 2022 semester. This left Mount Holyoke College, the only COFHE member in the Five College Consortium, still packaging loans for need-based aid recipients.
According to Executive Director of Student Financial Services at Mount Holyoke College Tayler Kreutter, SFS packages a combination of merit-based scholarships, other grants and scholarships, loans and work-study to meet a student’s demonstrated need. SFS calculates demonstrated need using a software system called PowerFAIDS — owned by College Board — through a process Kreutter described as “institutional methodology.”
“The methodology behind the scenes takes as large of a snapshot of families’ financial circumstances as it can and distills down that information,” Kreutter said in an interview with Mount Holyoke News, explaining why SFS uses the College Scholarship Service Profile. “We feel like the more information we have, the more equitable and consistent we can be in awarding it for all of our different students.”
Federal changes regarding how financial aid is calculated and awarded based on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, better known as the FAFSA, are on the way. The aid application for the 2024-2025 school year — which typically opens by Oct. 1 each year — will not become available to students seeking federal aid until Dec. 31.
Through the 2020 FAFSA Simplification Act, Congress wants the Department of Education to raise the threshold for protected family income — income excluded from the calculation determining need-based aid eligibility — to 20-60% depending on individual circumstances while adjusting annually for inflation, The Washington Post reported. The DOE has failed to update calculation standards to match the FSA guidelines, which could negatively impact students’ aid eligibility nationwide, according to The Washington Post.
At many non-need-based institutions, the earlier a student completes the FAFSA, the more institutional funding is available to them. However, the delayed FAFSA deadline this year will likely leave colleges scrambling to assess students’ financial circumstances and disburse aid packages. Kreutter says that SFS will rely on the CSS profile — an application used to determine eligibility for institutional aid, awarded directly from Mount Holyoke — to project the amount of federal aid that domestic students will be eligible for in the 2024-2025 school year.
However, students will still need to apply to receive these funds using the FAFSA. Kreutter’s office is preemptively planning a mass communications campaign to bring this information to student’s attention, with the fear being that students may not realize that they still need to apply for federal aid.
According to the College’s common data set — a standardized report of demographic and financial data that most higher education institutions report annually — Mount Holyoke awarded $57,539,906 in institutional need-based aid for the 2022-2023 school year. Of the 1492 students who applied for it, 1358 — 91% — received it, with the average award for full-time students being $46,978. When a student’s idea of their financial need does not align with the College’s assessment, SFS places the burden on them to request an appeal. Then, requests are processed by an appeals team that meets throughout the year to review cases.
Kreutter said that appeals cases typically deal with parental job loss, unreimbursed medical expenses and financially supporting extended family members unaccounted for in the FAFSA or CSS Profile. “What is sometimes difficult is that I've worked with a lot of families in the past who have hesitancy to share information [for] multiple different reasons,” Kreutter said. “Talking about finances is never easy. Talking about finances with a stranger? It's exponentially not easy. And I think that's one of the reasons why we shifted to the dedicated counselor model.”
A student left behind and a desperate dad who loves his daughter
A recent revision to her need-based financial aid may force Kaia McTigue ’26 to unenroll from the College. “I was receiving a significant amount of financial aid last year,” McTigue said. But when she received her financial aid offer during the summer before the 2023-24 academic year, McTigue said, “it was significantly less aid — actually, little to no aid.”
Thinking that there had been a misunderstanding, Kaia’s father, John McTigue, told Mount Holyoke News that he reached out to SFS for clarification. It would not have been the first time. The year his daughter was set to begin at Mount Holyoke, SFS mistakenly counted a rental property as a real estate asset and gave her a lower award. However, after communicating with SFS, the school was able to significantly revise her award — seemingly without problem, her father said.
This year, however, was different. In 2021, McTigue’s father — the owner of a small printmaking business, Business Card Express — received a loan from the Paycheck Protection Program. These loans, distributed by the U.S. Small Business Administration, helped small-business owners stay employed during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the SBA. The older McTigue told Mount Holyoke News that his business — considered essential during the pandemic since it served local healthcare facilities — suffered around 80% in business losses during the pandemic. He used the PPP loan to retain core members of his staff and continue operations.
According to a statement addressed to SFS from the father’s Certified Professional Accountant, which was shared with Mount Holyoke News, SFS refused to take her father’s COVID-related business losses into account when calculating aid. SFS also counted the PPP loan as income after it was forgiven by the federal government, a move which he said went against Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. The McTigues say SFS rejected their appeal. The father told Mount Holyoke News that paying for almost all of his daughter’s fees out-of-pocket this year has presented a significant financial burden for him and his family.
“When I first got the news, it was devastating,” the older McTigue said. “I’ve been in business for myself since I was 23. I haven’t worked for anybody else. I have never in my entire life felt so completely gutted and stabbed in the back. So blind-sided, so utterly blind-sided.”
The father said that at first, he was not able to find the words to tell his daughter she might not be able to return to the College, hiding the news from her until the end of the appeal process.
“My daughter is amazing. … Not one time in her entire life have I ever ever ever had to ask her if she did her homework. Not one,” the father said. “That was the toughest thing, [Kaia] feeling like it was her fault. Seeing Kaia taking blame. I’m like, how can you have done better than a 4.0 [grade point average]?”
Both father and daughter told Mount Holyoke News that to fund this academic year, they have had to deplete all funds reserved for her education, along with those reserved for her younger brother. The father has also taken out an additional $30,000 in loans — a move that he explained will likely delay his retirement indefinitely. “There’s no way we can do the same thing next year,” the father told Mount Holyoke News.
Going into next semester, McTigue faces an uncertain future. Her current plan is to complete her sophomore year at Mount Holyoke and study abroad all next year to circumvent the College’s cost of attendance — provided she can receive grants and fellowships to offset the costs. If McTigue’s financial aid offer is not revised by her senior year, she will have no other option but to transfer during her last year at Mount Holyoke.
Ilhan and Siona: Zoom today, gone tomorrow
Ilhan, who asked to use only her first name for this story, enrolled as a first-year student at the College during the 2020-2021 school year. Like McTigue, Ilhan recalled having adverse experiences with SFS in her year at the College. Though, unlike McTigue, she was successfully able to appeal for more aid for her second semester.
“SFS were very unforgiving when it came to financial aid, appeals and loans,” Ilhan said in a written response to Mount Holyoke News, describing her attempts to appeal her financial aid award after COVID-related job losses within her family.
Unlike McTigue, the Minnesota-native never had the opportunity to step foot on campus as a student. Ilhan, who said she is immunocompromised, spent her entire first year learning remotely due to the pandemic, taking coursework online from her family home before transferring to the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.
“I soon realized that this wouldn’t be sustainable at all, especially for 3 more years. … Finances were the biggest issue overall and the catalyst for me needing to withdraw from Mount Holyoke, a little more support during the pandemic would’ve helped [a lot] to keep me enrolled as a full-time student,” Ilhan said. “I think the College has a lot of work to do to accommodate for low-income and first-generation students, in all aspects of higher education including academic, financial, guidance, and professional areas.”
Siona Ahuja ’24, an international student from Delhi, India, told Mount Holyoke News that she spent her Spring 2022 semester in conversation with SFS at Mount Holyoke, appealing for a financial aid revision after a medical emergency and COVID-related unemployment left her family unable to handle the cost of attendance.
While Ilhan’s appeal was successful, Ahuja’s appeal was rejected by SFS, like McTigue. After four semesters at Mount Holyoke, the first of which she completed remotely from Delhi, Ahuja is now a senior at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Ahuja told Mount Holyoke News that while the cost of attendance was not the only reason she decided to transfer, it was “a pretty big factor!”
An international student in strife
Another international student at Mount Holyoke — who asked not to be named — turned to SFS for help during the Spring 2022 semester. The year before, the currency in her country had rapidly devalued due to ongoing civil conflict. “What I was given as my parental contribution when I first got an acceptance letter was no longer attainable for my parents because [my family contribution was] almost double what they make in the currency where they live,” the student said.
However, she claims that her appeal was denied. SFS informed her that currency devaluation in a student’s home country was not seen as a qualifying circumstance for repackaging financial aid at the College — she would need to wait a year and then file another appeal.
The senior told Mount Holyoke News that when she appealed again, she was working the maximum number of hours allowed of international student workers at her two jobs on campus to help her family afford her cost of attendance. According to the College’s website, 20 hours is the maximum number of hours most students can work and still comply with visa restrictions. International students do not qualify for federal need-based aid like domestic students do, instead relying entirely on institutional aid, private loans and their own funds to finance their education.
When the senior received news about her second appeal being denied, she, like McTigue, considered taking a leave from Mount Holyoke or even transferring. “I was really frustrated and angry in general about the whole situation,” the senior said. “And then there's just also the sadness that I really do like being at Mount Holyoke.”
The senior told Mount Holyoke News that her frustrations were compounded when she came across a post on the College’s Instagram page promoting a letter of solidarity, expressing support for those members of the campus community affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In a last attempt, the senior decided to reach out directly to the Mount Holyoke President’s office in an email she shared with Mount Holyoke News. “I think helping students whose home countries are known to be undergoing war could be one of the best ways Mount Holyoke College can show allegiance to the people suffering from the consequences of war,” the student wrote in the email.
Chief of Staff and Secretary of the College Bett Schumacher responded, writing that she had urged SFS to look into the case and that Executive Director Kreutter would take the lead. “There was a feeling of relief following it,” the senior international student said. Once no longer worried about paying off academic fees, the student could refocus her attention on being a student. “I could focus on my studies and just general extracurricular stuff that I was just pushing aside so I could focus on my campus jobs,” the student said.
Both Ahuja and the other international student spoke to Mount Holyoke News about the barriers international students with financial limitations face when attempting to earn money on campus. Both explained that visa restrictions often prevent international students from finding work off-campus. Ahuja added that although work-study is packaged as a portion of international students’ aid awards, on-campus employment and billable hours are not guaranteed.
All four students — McTigue, Ilhan, the international senior and Ahuja — spoke highly of Mount Holyoke College as an academic environment. John, McTigue’s father, also expressed his respect for the school. However, each described having had their perspective of the College soured by their experiences with the appellate process for financial aid.
Crowdfunding: A temporary community solution
Many Mount Holyoke students have turned to crowdfunding to pay off outstanding cost-of-attendance fees. Since Dec. 1, three Mount Holyoke students have been raising funds anonymously through the online crowdfunding website GoFundMe. Two of the students received bills of $5,000 from the College, which they needed to pay by Dec. 12 under threat of withdrawal from the College, while the third student, who was given a bill of $8,000, faces a deadline of Dec. 22. SFS Director Kreutter told Mount Holyoke News that the College had not unenrolled a student due to unpaid fees in four semesters.
“I am currently facing financial difficulties that make it nearly impossible for me to meet the tuition requirements for this semester, even as I am working two jobs,” the student recipient of one of the fundraisers explained in their campaign description. “My financial status at the school has made it hard for me to concentrate on finishing the semester and my senior year, and continues to put a strain on me and my family. Please donate whatever you can and share, thank you!”
The three students currently raising funding for their tuition all identify as BIPOC, formally known as Black, Indigenous, People of Color, with two of the students being Black. “It is extremely difficult for students of color to attend Mount Holyoke College,” Kiera Myrthil ‘24 voiced in the mutual aid campaign that they are organizing. “Whether emotionally, financially or otherwise. I ask that you please take a moment to donate whatever you can and to share widely!!”
All three fundraisers were posted by the independent student-run Instagram account @mhc_mutualaid, which “[boosts] mutual aid requests & [highlights] MHC campus resources,” according to its bio.
According to the Solidarity Economy Association, a worker-led cooperative based in England, Scotland and Wales, mutual aid is the “horizontal mode of organization, aiming to break down hierarchies and practice collective decision making.” More simply, as the organization explained, mutual aid is “cooperation for the common good.” Through @mhc_mutualaid, this concept is employed to make resources more accessible through the financial contribution of a community of peers.
Photo courtesy of wuestenigel via Flickr.
As Mount Holyoke students grapple with rising tuition costs, mutual aid efforts grow on campus.
“I think the MHC mutual aid page is a really important resource because it funnels the requests into circles of people who are attached to this school, one way or another,” Myrthil told Mount Holyoke News. “I think it is because of that connection that people are most compelled to donate as well.”
The three fundraisers were posted on Dec. 1 and Dec. 3, respectively, and have been shared and reposted by Mount Holyoke students since. Despite all three posts being circulated on students’ Instagram stories, the amounts of money raised by the three fundraisers have large disparities. The first fundraiser with the heading, “FGLI Black Mount Holyoke Student in URGENT NEED!” has raised $4,505 of its $5,000 goal as of Dec. 14. The second campaign titled, “Black International FGLI Mount Holyoke Student,” and the third campaign, “FGLI BIPOC Student in Urgent Need of Tuition,” have raised $1,571 of a $5,000 goal and $1,385 of a $8,000 goal, respectively, as of Dec. 14. All of these amounts were accurate at the time of publication.
“I think that the difference in money raised by the three campaigns has to do with the order of posting,” Myrthil explained to Mount Holyoke News. “Because all three went through the mutual aid page, the same group of people received the requests in staggered order. I think that this may have caused some people to donate a lot more to the first GoFundMe, not knowing that 2 more would follow and consequently not having as much to spare after their first donation.”
“We have many unmet urgent requests on our page and need our whole community to meet them,” @mhc_mutalaid posted on their Instagram story on Dec. 9. “Please consider your (and your family’s) financial privilege when determining how much/when to contribute to mutual aid.” The text was accompanied by a graph that showed three different levels of financial privilege, with factors such as the ability to afford basic needs, health care, property and cars as a means of measuring financial status.
“Mutual Aid is a radical way to enact community care. It is recognizing that the world is unjust and people still deserve access to resources they need and want,” Myrthil continued. “I think that's why people donate to GoFundMe and answer instagram stories with [Venmo/Cash App] requests or food/clothes drives etc. There are people who want to help and are able to trade or give resources that they can spare.”
Editor’s Note: Siona Ahuja was once a member of the MHN staff.