Karissa Rogers applied for financial aid so that she could attend college.

Without it, the freshman psychology major would have had a harder time doing so.

“I received financial aid. It didn’t cover my entire schooling, but it covered enough,” Rogers said.

Compared to last year, freshmen filing for financial aid increased about 20 percent, according to Jone Zieren, director of the Office of Financial Aid.

For the 2007-2008 school year, 2,706 freshmen filed for financial aid. This year that number rose to 3,255 freshmen.

This number also includes students that might not end up coming to Eastern, Zieren said.

Students overall, including freshmen, had a 14 percent increase in financial aid filings.

Zieren listed several explanations as to why this number might increase.

“Economy and increased college costs are seen nationwide,” she said.

President Bill Perry said one factor for Eastern’s increase could be the concern with the rising cost.

Tuition for incoming students rose 12 percent for this year.

Janai Cason, a freshman pre-medicine major, applied for financial aid because her family contributions were not enough to pay for college.

The rise in tuition played a part in this, she said.

“Well (with) financial aid, (tuition) would have been completely paid for, but with the rise in tuition I’m going to have to apply for more loans to be able to fulfill the entire tuition,” Cason said.

Cason said she has an extra $2,000 now that she’ll have to take loans out for.

“More money I’m going to have to pay back in the future,” she said.

Perry said affordability and financial aid are a consideration when increasing tuition.

“One of the things that we look at when we’re trying to determine tuition for the next entering class is the impact of the increase on affordability,” he said.

The economy is another factor in more students applying for financial aid.

“Another (factor) could be that the economy, the rise in gas cost,” Perry said. “People are more aware now of costs. There’s a cost squeeze everywhere in their lives.”

Zieren also said, recruiting efforts, marketing efforts and Eastern’s reputation are other explanations to the increased financial aid filing.

Perry said marketing the financial aid process and making it easy to apply can generate more applications.

For Rogers, financial aid was needed no matter what, excluding most of these factors.

“I just needed financial aid in general,” Rogers said. “Regardless of if there would have been a (tuition) rise or how minimal it would have been, I still would have needed financial aid.”

Rogers said she is paying for tuition with financial aid and subsidized, unsubsidized loans.

Warren Barnett, a freshman marketing major, also received financial aid, although it didn’t pay for all of his tuition.

“I knew I wasn’t going to get enough money to pay for school if I didn’t have it,” he said.

To pay for what’s not covered by financial aid, Barnett said he is taking out some loans and is going to try to get a job.

Barnett said Eastern offered him a good amount of money so he wouldn’t have to take out a lot of loans and be stuck paying for them later.

The financial aid received is a factor in why freshmen choose to come to Eastern.

“Basically with it being a cheaper school in comparison to the rest, the amount of financial aid I was being offered made it more likely that it would cover more, meaning I would have to take out less loans for myself,” Rogers said.

Emily Zulz can be reached at 581-7942 or at eazulz@eiu.edu.