State cuts result in financial aid delay

Hindrances in financial aid processing for the fall semester have left the student body wondering the cause of delays.

“The biggest problem was the delayed decisions made by the state legislature,” said MarQuita Hackett, financial aid director. “This year everything was kind of at a standstill and we knew there was going to be some federal programs that were going to be eliminated, but we really weren’t sure about any state programs being funded. So we had to come up with a plan of how we would award financial aid to students.”

To help cushion the state budget deficit, the Texas Legislature went in special session in June, concluding higher education, state grants and financial aid are either being eliminated completely or decreased.

“I think we had less cuts (for higher education) than any other state in the union this year,” Leo Berman, State House Representative said. “One thing that is certain is we have got to find ways to reduce the cost of higher education and decisions have to be made after hearing from those who have been involved in the school system.”

Like other schools across the state and nation, this left the financial aid department with a delayed start on fall financial aid packages. That did not stop them from planning ahead.

“Our plan was to continue with our financial aid packaging process for students who applied early and who we knew were eligible for supplemental programs,” Hackett said.

When the financial aid office did not have a final decision, they used what is called an anticipated award, but made sure not to over-fund the student.

It was a placeholder that proved the student had the financial need.

“You know there are more students with a financial need these days when it has gotten to the point that a parent must work all his life to pay for their child’s college,” Berman said.

Foreseeing the possible delay on budget cuts in early May, University advisers conducted several conference calls to discuss a game plan for preparing the fall financial aid packages.

After hearing from other campuses, the University decided to process the students who had files ready and find an estimated figure (i.e. anticipated award) for what that student might receive once the final decisions were made.

Essentially, this meant the department, in effort to stay on their normal processing schedule, processed and then reprocessed student packages to help the students, creating twice the work for themselves.

“We did not delay the processing of students’ files,” Hackett said. “We didn’t stop the process; we kept on with the process by using the placeholder that we did.”

However, the delays in the state decisions were not the only reason the financial aid office was bombarded and behind.

The department’s lack of processing staff was also a contributing factor. There were five employees in the financial aid department to process thousands of student packages.

“When we have lines of students and so many calls a day it really slows down the processing of the information,” Hackett said. “We only have two hands that just can’t answer the phones, help somebody and (do) data entry. We try to do a good and accurate job so it takes a while.”

Two weeks prior to the first day of school, admission recruiters shifted jobs, along with the help of a financial aid counselor, answering thousands of calls daily to help filter the distractions away from the financial advisors.

This service was available for students and parents with questions concerning financial aid processing.

“I thought the call center was a great success this year,” said Kensi Proctor, financial aid counselor. “Employees from several different departments on campus staffed the call center and we were able to work together to make sure that students were given accurate answers to their questions.By working with these other employees, I certainly learned a lot about how other departments operate and what their processes are. As a result, I feel that I will be able to better serve students in the future.”

Since the economy foreshadows even more financial cuts in the future, the financial aid office is offering two pieces of advice for the students to help make future processing run smoothly.

These are to apply early for FASFA by the priority date and to submit completed documentation (i.e. making sure everything is filled out and signed).

Also, the financial aid office is asking their students to practice patience when working with the department and reminds them that it is a slow process.

“Sometimes we will have students fax in paper work that isn’t signed,” Hackett said. “Two weeks later when we pulled their file to work on it we can’t because it’s not complete.

“Two weeks might sound like a long time to students but to us it’s like two days. We ask students to be patient because we are doing the best we can. We are not twiddling our thumbs. We are working hard every day for our students.”