Some students still waiting for financial aid

by Jane Chew

Kristina Brown, a graduate student from the department of communicative disorders and deaf studies at Fresno State, has to choose between staying in school or staying warm for the winter.

“ It has basically messed with my livelihood because I am missing $5,500 in student loans and financial aid,” Brown said. “I really don't know what to do. If I knew earlier, I could have found a way to make the money. I'm so depressed right now.”

Brown is one of the many students at Fresno State who depend on financial aid money, yet don’t know if they can resolve the problems blocking them from getting it. These problems include notification about academic disqualifications, about maximum-unit changes and petitions, about mistaken graduation dates and about lost paperwork.

Maria Hernandez, director of financial aid, acknowledged that notification failures exist, but many of these problems stem from PeopleSoft, the CSU system’s computer operating system that handles most student records, from grades to dollars.

“ There could have been many reasons why these students were not notified,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez said the financial aid office has experienced difficulty in notifying students because problems arose when they brought information from the old software to PeopleSoft. PeopleSoft could not identify students, she said. As a result, it was difficult to e-mail those whose financial aid was in jeopardy.

“ We had to piece information together and rely on students to come into the office,” Hernandez said.

For Brown, it all started when she decided to drop two classes in Fall 2002 because she needed medical attention. The financial aid office gave her instructions to remain in good standing, she said. Almost a year later, she found that, after resubmitting financial aid forms again this year, she was disqualified anyway.

“ What else could possibly go wrong?” Brown asked.

That was when she discovered, like other graduate students, that she was not notified about maximum-unit changes that obstructed her from qualifying for financial aid—and that her file said she had already graduated.

Laura Moore, a graduate student from the department of communicative disorders and deaf studies, was not notified either about important information regarding her financial aid status.

“ It is so aggravating because we never knew any of this,” Moore said. “It is the worst nightmare.”

PeopleSoft automatically projects graduation dates for students, Hernandez said. The financial aid office was unable to notify students about graduation date errors because the staff could not distinguish between the right and wrong graduation dates for individual students.

PeopleSoft also has the ability to categorize program units accordingly, but that part of the PeopleSoft module is not functioning because the financial aid office has not programmed it yet, she said.

Many students have been encouraged to visit the financial aid Web site. But students are complaining that the site is useless because it does not inform students of their statuses.

Hernandez said the financial aid office has put in a request to have the Web site’s information accessible to students, but she does not know when it will be finished since it is a system-wide program that depends on other campuses’ permission too.

Hernandez said the financial aid office notifies students through their campus e-mail addresses; therefore, it is vital for students to have campus accounts. Those who have other e-mail accounts might not receive notifications about his or her status.

Jason Ferris, another graduate student who has financial aid, said he has a Yahoo and a campus e-mail account but did not receive any notification from the financial aid office.

Hernandez said about the lost paperwork and the notification failures: “It is erroneous to say that it never happens, but it is a rare occurrence. We do want to say that the students have been extremely patient and that we know how difficult it has been for them.”