Due to a financial aid glitch, students may face a delay in receiving their aid.
Given our nations accumulating debt, students now more than ever may have to turn to financial aid. However things can turn volatile for students if financial aid trouble arises just as they did on February 21st. . Certain students have not been receiving their financial aid due to a glitch in the system.
When asked about the glitch in the system, Moorpark College’s Vice President, Iris Ingram, said that of the 8801 students at Moorpark, 48 were impacted. These 48 students are expected to have their financial aid delayed for 2-4 weeks.
Receiving financial aid depends on a number of key factors regarding the status of the student. However, the general qualifications aim directly around the student’s income, or a parent/guardian income. Depending on how qualified a student is, certain financial aid programs offer additional support in the form of payments for books and discounted or free parking. Ultimately, financial aid is used to help students in need pay for educational necessities such as books, tuition, and parking.
Ed Ruhnke a 20-year-old Special Education major is one of the students currently affected by the glitch. He described his experience as he went to the Financial Aid Office to discover what had become of his financial aid.
“I went down and found I had been taken off the payment plan,” said Ruhnke.
As a result, Ruhnke needed his parents to fly to California from their home state of New Jersey in order to pay for his classes this semester.
Vice President Ingram described what caused the glitch and explained how long it took for the glitch to be repaired.
“A staff member at another college, while attempting to correct an error, inadvertently caused this larger problem,” said Ingram. “It took several hours over the course of two days. However, the error has been fixed and steps have been taken to ensure that it does not happen again.”
Students worried about issues with financial aid in the future are encouraged to monitor their financial aid disbursement status. This can be done via Banner Self-service through the student portal found at my.vcccd.edu.
“Students can inquire at the Financial Aid Office when they have questions about their disbursements,” Vice President Ingram said.
