Financial aid awards increase

By Maria Vega, On-Line Forty-Niner

Tuesday, September 8, 1998

Students either hate it or love it. For students waiting in line at the Financial Aid Office, the process cannot go fast enough. Getting straight answers or the correct information can be a hassle. However, for some students, getting money, answers, or information has never been a problem, and they have only positive experiences with financial aid. Whatever the sentiment, there are students who depend on it to attend Cal State Long Beach.

Trends show more students are applying and receiving financial aid, she said. CSULB has more than 13,500 students who receive financial aid.

In the 1997-98 academic year, the Financial Aid Office disbursed about $77 million worth of financial aid from federal, state, local and private sources, said Dr. Gloria Kapp, director of admissions and financial aid.

Ten years ago, CSULB disbursed a total of $20 million in financial aid, Kapp said.

"Generally, yes, the need has increased, especially since the fees started increasing every semester by a certain percentage, although they've gone down this semester," Kapp said.

Despite this trend, there are still some students who fall through the cracks.

"It's very frustrating when, like in my situation, your parents make too much money to get financial aid, but not enough to pay for school," said Susanna, a junior nursing major, who like others only wanted her first name used.

"The distribution doesn't seem fair because you can't even get enough to cover books, while some people get $2,000 free money every semester," Susanna said.

The different types of financial aid available at CSULB are: federal or state grants, which is free money; different types of loans, which have to be paid back after graduation; and work-study, in which students earn money to pay for tuition.

Each type has its own specific eligibility requirements, and each considers three general areas: the size of the family, income and assets, Kapp said. The only type that is not issued on the basis of need is the unsubsidized Stafford loan.

"Unsubsidized loans are one of the reasons the need for financial aid has increased in the last six or seven years, because it is not based on need and it is available to all students," Kapp said.

Although the types of financial aid have not changed, the amounts available have, she said.

"In the last five years, there has been a significant increase in Pell Grants and loans," Kapp said.

Five years ago, Pell Grants were less than $2,000 per academic year. Now, they are a maximum of $3,000 per academic year, with loan amounts of $2,625 for first-year students, $3,500 for the second year and $5,500 after two years have been completed. Different loan amounts are available for independent students, Kapp said.

With over 13,000 students to handle, financial aid is taking steps to become more efficient and helpful to students. However, even with improvements, not every student is satisfied.

"They seem to have lost my documents and instead of helping, they give you the runaround," said Tammy, a senior liberal studies major.

"I think they definitely need to get better-trained people working at the windows," Tammy said. "Last time I came, the person that helped me gave me the wrong information and now I can't even get information."

Kapp said documents occasionally do get lost, but the office has taken steps to curb the problem.

She said an imaging system has been installed in the Financial Aid Office, which definitely speeds up the process. Financial aid counselors can pull up a student's application and most of the filing of papers has been eliminated.

"This has helped us tremendously, but the fact remains that there's not much we can do if a student's file isn't complete," Kapp said.

She recommends students photocopy every document received and sent to the Financial Aid Office. If by chance a document does get lost, the copy can be brought in.

When a student complains, they are brought in to see a counselor, Kapp said. A student can appeal a decision about the amount of financial aid awarded, she said

"There's a lot of paperwork and that makes it take longer, but that's the nature of the business," said Sue Hall, a senior fine arts major. "I don't think it's the financial aid office's fault, there's just a lot of red tape."

Kapp said the number one complaint from students is that the process is not fast enough and that they are not satisfied with their award amount.

"The Student Aid Commission sets the allowances for students to receive aid. The money comes through us," Kapp said. "We verify a student's enrollment and we disburse the money."

For continuing students, the process is slightly faster than for first-time students because of renewal applications, Kapp said. In January, continuing students receive a renewal in the mail. The personal information used in the previous year's application is verified by the student and then must be mailed back by the March deadline.

"The application was kind of a complicated process because there were some things I had to figure out on my own," said Melissa Atilano, a freshman prenursing major. Atilano also said the process could move faster.

This semester, the Financial Aid Office has implemented a new rule to help control the loss of money on students who receive financial aid on the basis of full-time enrollment, and then drop units.

Kapp said the problem was revealed after an annual audit indicated that the office was not billing students who were getting paid on the basis of more units than they actually had.

"It was done to bring us into compliance with Pell Grant and U.S. Department of Education regulations, which say that we have to bill students if they drop units," Kapp said.

Over 7,000 students receiving Pell Grants were mailed a notice about the new rule the first week of school, Kapp said. She said she still expects about 200 students to get billed this year.