The N.C. EARN Scholarship awarded need-based students $2,000 a semester, but according to the General Assembly’s 2010-11 budget, the program will lose its funding for the 2010-11 fiscal year.

Students who received the scholarship for the 2009-2010 academic year won’t receive their funds this spring.

According to Julie Mallette, director of the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid, the department will seek to assist students who lost the scholarship.

“We will make every effort to offer students additional aid to replace the EARN Scholarship funding they will lose for spring 2010,” Mallete said. “But we cannot promise that every student will receive grant or scholarship funds to replace the lost EARN funding.”

Mallete said the timing of the decision leaves students without many alternatives.

“With the large increase in applications for aid for the 2009-10 year, and the lateness of the General Assembly’s decision to rescind the 2010 spring portion of the EARN Scholarship, there are not sufficient scholarship or grant funds available at this time for every student who will lose EARN Scholarship funding for spring,” Mallette said.

Mallette said the OSFA will compensate as best as it can with funding through scholarships, grants, Federal Work-Study programs and loans.

“It is unfortunate the state budget situation required that funding for EARN be rescinded,” she said. “It is even more unfortunate that this decision was made after scholarship awards had already been committed to students for the full 2009-10 academic year.”

Mallette said this means students will accumulate more debt while going to school, but said the OSFA is committed to meeting full need of Pack Promise scholars and will continue to do so even with the loss of EARN Scholarship support from the state.

The Federal Pell Grant amount for 2009-2010 is $5,350, $619 more than the maximum for 2008-2009. According to Malette, $500 of the increase is from the Federal Stimulus package, which may change come 2010-11.