Less than 50 percent of students participate in financial aid on campus, according to Kim Korinke, the Moorpark College Financial Aid Officer. With that in mind, the Financial Aid Office is trying to spread awareness of Financial Aid via Financial Aid Awareness Week.

“There’s a big opportunity for a lot of students out there to learn more about financial aid and how it can benefit them,” Korinke said.

The event was one-part Q&A; and one-part Bingo game, with the latter being a short five minute process, resulting in a free supply package containing a Moorpark College spiral notebook, a small stapler kit, and a mini flash drive bracelet.

The bingo game asked students questions that tested their knowledge of the financial aid process. For example, “What does SAP stand for?” and “What is Warning? (when referring to the VCCCD SAP policy)”.

If you don’t know the answers to these questions, SAP stands for Satisfactory Academic Progress, and works in relation with your eligibility for financial aid. If you don’t meet the standards you are put on warning and are at risk of losing financial aid eligibility. There is an appeal process, but for more info on that one should look to the Financial Aid office in Fountain Hall.

The biggest part of Financial Aid Awareness Week is its attempt to try and get students to stop and take a moment to think about financial aid. A large deterrent of students checking for financial aid, according to Korinke, is the preconceived notion that you won’t qualify for it, so there’s no need to bother with it.

But the truth of the matter is that you may qualify, and if not for one means of aid, then for another. The short amount of time it takes to look into it or to fill out the FAFSA is worth the chance that you may qualify for aid.

Financial Aid Awareness Week also acted as a sort of a refresher for students who may already be aware of their financial aid status.

“There was a lot of stuff I already knew,” said Ryan Cruz, a 19-year-old photojournalism major. “But it was nice to go over it all again.”

Students are often oblivious that there is a potential chance for aid out there, but when they take just a few seconds to stop and check, they are welcomed to a world of opportunity.

“I’m not really thinking about my future at the moment,” said undecided 17-year-old Annalise Robbins. “This made me stop and say ‘hey, here’s something to help you get through school.”

Being aware that financial aid is available is only a portion of what Financial Aid Awareness Week has accomplished for students; the biggest part of the entire event may be the fact that students recognize that the Financial Aid Office is there to help guide them along this process.

As Robbins put it, “If I’m having trouble with the whole financial aid stuff, I can go talk to them.”