As tuition costs rise and more students take out loans and shoulder debt to finance their education, college affordability continues to be a trending topic on the national conscience. But these headlines don’t apply to everyone – some students are, in effect, getting paid to go to class.

According to the University’s Financial Report for 2010-2011, the University awarded a net of $99,836,116 in scholarships and fellowships (calculated as the sum of scholarship allowances from tuition revenue and scholarship/fellowship operating expenses) in the fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, 2011. Because The University of Alabama does not have a policy expressly forbidding the practice, it is possible for students to “stack” scholarships from the University alone to receive financial aid beyond the total cost of attendance.

According to the Financial Affairs website, the estimated total cost of attendance for an in-state undergraduate for the 2012-2013 school year is $12,030 per semester.

This possibility does not translate to reality in many cases, Mary Spiegel, executive director of Undergraduate Admissions, said.

“It is the intent of the University not to award above the overall cost [of attendance],” Spiegel said in an emailed statement. “While the University does not track the amount of scholarship funding an individual student receives, the number who receive more than the total cost including tuition, board, books, personal/miscellaneous and transportation is very limited.”

Ryan Flamerich, a senior majoring in chemical engineering and political science, is among this limited group. Flamerich said he has received a check for approximately $2,500 per semester at the start of this and other recent semesters, and he usually pockets at least $1,500 after using some of the money for minor costs like parking passes.

Flamerich holds a Crimson Elite scholarship from the National Alumni Association (which, according to the National Alumni Association website, includes the cost of tuition, a $3,500 per year stipend, a $300 per year book grant and a computer), as well as yearly funds from the College of Engineering. Throughout his first three years at the University, Flamerich also received financial aid through a fellowship from another campus organization he chose not to identify.

Though he receives aid in excess of total attendance costs, Flamerich said he has not spent his college years “hunting” for as many scholarships and as much money as possible. He said he stopped applying for many opportunities after he matched attendance costs.

“A lot of the scholarships I apply for now are more for the prestige aspect than the financial component,” he said. “Like the Truman Scholarship – that has a financial component, which, by the way, I don’t have access to until graduate school, but that’s not something I’ve done just to get the money.”

Alexis Carter, a junior majoring in marketing, feels students should not be allowed to receive scholarship money beyond the cost of attendance, regardless of whether or not they are actively trying to acquire it.

“It doesn’t seem fair that I continue to maintain a 4.0 and receive no scholarship assistance, while there are other students who receive scholarships covering the full tuition and more,” she said. “I think it would benefit more students if the University put a cap on the amount that attending school costs. The excess money that these students would have simply pocketed could then go to additional hardworking students who are receiving little or no assistance.”

Colleges throughout the Southeast differ in how they handle the situation.

According to Steve Orlando, director of the University of Florida News Bureau, Florida does not have an official policy in place to prevent students from compounding institutional scholarships beyond attendance costs, but the practice is rare.

“I can’t say it couldn’t happen, but I do believe it would be an anomaly. We do not monitor institutional scholarships against cost of attendance, so there is nothing in place to prevent it,” Orlando said in an emailed statement. “I had our systems staff run a select on any undergraduate students who had institutionally funded scholarships that exceeded $20,000, which is about the cost of our in-state budgets, and we had no students listed.”

Officials from The University of North Alabama, Auburn University and Mississippi State University all said their schools expressly disallow the stacking of institutional scholarships to exceed each university’s respective total cost of attendance.

“Auburn University does allow scholarships to stack. Students are eligible to receive Freshman, General and Departmental Scholarships, but may only receive one four-year, renewable Freshman Scholarship,” Velda Rooker, Auburn’s director of University Scholarships, said in an emailed statement.

Rooker said her office regularly checks to make sure no students hold scholarships exceeding the cost of attendance.

“In almost all cases, one or more scholarships are decreased so the total amount awarded in institutional scholarships is equivalent to the estimated annual cost of attendance based on residency,” she said. “In a very limited number of cases, scholarships may not be reduced if a one-time scholarship benefit is creating the over-award.”

According to Laura Diven-Brown, financial aid director at The University of Mississippi, most institutional financial aid packages are limited to total cost of attendance by state policy. However, she said it is possible and allowable for Ole Miss students receiving athletic scholarships and federal financial aid to exceed the total cost of attendance.

“We currently have 48 students with packages exceeding [the cost of attendance] that are not considered to be in an over-award. Of this total number, 47 are student athletes. Their packages are allowable,” Diven-Brown said in an emailed statement.

Diven-Brown said the one student who does receive total aid over the cost of attendance does so with the help of funds from non-institutional sources.

Flamerich said he thinks universities should review cases of excess institutional scholarship funds on an individual basis and consider all circumstances of each instance. However, he said the situation must ultimately be approached with self-moderation on the part of the student receiving the aid.

“I think it basically comes down to you having to ask yourself the moral question, is it right for me to accept more money after I have everything covered? You have to decide for yourself,” he said. “If someone works for Company A for $100,000 a year and does the same job as someone for making $50,000 at Company B, is that wrong? Beyond college, people are going to take advantage of the opportunities they are presented with. And that goes down to the college level. That’s something you have to ask yourself.”