By Jill Seelmeyer

In the nation’s current economic climate, many students have had to adjust their budgets.  However, current UK undergraduate scholarship students do not need to fear the loss of their scholarships.

The state of the economy has caused UK’s scholarship, professorship and fellowship endowments to lose value, making them worth less than the original donations, said vice president for development, D. Michael Richey.

Undergraduate student scholarships will not be impacted by the decreased value of these endowments, said UK spokesman Jimmy Stanton.

Stanton said every endowment across the country has lost value.  He added that  current students funded under scholarships won’t notice any change in the value of those scholarships.

“We are in uncharted waters,” Stanton said. “We’ll have to wait until the economic future is clearer.”

Also, UK undergraduate scholarship students will not lose funds, said Don Witt, assistant provost for enrollment management.

“At the undergraduate scholarship level, we are going to be able to manage any impacted endowed scholarships via the academic scholarship office, as well as financial aid,” Witt said.

Despite the loss of value in endowments, Stanton said UK’s priority is protecting students with scholarships.

“The university is committed to holding current scholarship recipients harmless,” Stanton said.

While undergraduate scholarships will not be cut because of lower endowment values, UK has taken steps to increase the number of scholarships offered to students.  Stanton said raising funds for scholarships remains a top priority now, as it is every year.

Richey said some donors have been asked if they would like to give additional gifts separate from their endowments to continue their support of the university.

“We are evaluating the opportunity to have a campaign for scholarships,” Richey said.