Financial aid may not keep pace with fast-rising tuition

In a year when the Legislature slashed more than $4 billion from higher education, social services, health care and other areas, one program received an especially generous increase: financial aid for undergraduate college students.

The Legislature approved a 32 percent biennial increase in funding for the State Need Grant, the state's largest contribution of grant money — money that does not need to be repaid — to low-income students.