As many as 50,000 students attending private Ohio colleges will take an immediate hit to their wallets because of state budget cuts.

On Monday, the Board of Regents sent a letter informing students who receive Ohio Student Choice Grants that their awards will be $20 less for spring term.

Last month, Gov. Ted Strickland ordered $640 million in spending cuts in response to slumping tax revenues and Ohio's crumbling economy. Those reductions are on top of $1.27 billion ordered last year.

In response, the Regents trimmed $2 million from the nearly $38.8 million Choice Grant program.

Chancellor Eric D. Fingerhut said Wednesday that he didn't think any of the cuts he was ordering would hurt students.

His spokesman, Michael Chaney, yesterday attributed that statement to an oversight. Chaney said the chancellor has tried to minimize the effect of cuts on students, but the Choice Grants were affected because they are not need-based and do not go to public colleges.

About 25 percent of the projected 50,000 students who will receive the awards in the spring are from low- to moderate-income families, Chaney said.

Students on the quarter system will receive $200 instead of $220 for this session. Those on semesters will receive $310 instead of $330.

In 2007, the General Assembly reduced the student awards from $900 to $660. Strickland had recommended a steeper cut and that the grants be available only to needy students.

Other state scholarships also have been affected by budget cuts. In November, the Ohio War Orphans Scholarship was cut by 30 percent for a savings of $600,000. About 800 students receive the award, which can vary by student.

The National Guard Scholarship Program has been cut twice, totaling nearly $1.7 million, since November. The state, however, won't have to lower the number or amount of awards because it has $3.5 million in reserves, said Mark Wayda, Ohio National Guard spokesman.

Private-college advocates called the Choice Grant reductions disappointing.

"Some will dismiss it by saying it's not that much money," said C. Todd Jones, president of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Ohio.

But Jones said the state took greater pains to protect financial aid for students at public colleges than at private schools.

During September cuts to the Choice Grant program, the state didn't have to lower grant awards because it used $2 million of a $3 million cushion, said Chad Foust, the Regents' director of state grants and scholarships.

It used the rest of the cushion to soften the blow of the latest cuts, he said.

Some private colleges are making up the $20 loss in the spring Choice Grant with their own money.

"We want students' focus to stay where it belongs: on going to class and doing well in their studies," said Nichole Johnson, spokeswoman for Capital University in Bexley.

epyle@dispatch.com