Students to Get Financial Aid Despite Budget Crisis
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 15, 2002
Kathleen McPartland
530-898-4260
Students to Get Financial Aid Despite Budget Crisis
Students at California State University, Chico will receive their financial aid disbursements as scheduled beginning Aug. 16, despite there being no state budget. Non-state dollars will be used to cover state financial aid funds until the budget is passed.
On Tuesday, the California Student Aid Commission, the state agency that awards Cal Grant funds to students, issued an alert that Cal Grants fund money would not be forwarded to campuses because the State Controller’s office has not authorized them to do so.
A memo issued by CSU Chancellor Charles Reed advised campuses to remedy the situation by either covering the disbursements with non-state money and reimbursing those funds later when the state money is available or assigning the money as receivables from the students to be paid later. CSU, Chico chose to use non-state funds.
Approximately 1,150 CSU, Chico students will receive Cal Grants of more than $1.1 million in their first 2002-2003 aid disbursements. There is an additional $1.3 million in State University Grant funds and $119,000 in state Educational Opportunity Program Grants set up for disbursement.
The law allows schools to disburse financial aid up to 10 days prior to classes starting. For the first time, CSU, Chico will disburse based on that marker, rather than at five days, which has been customary in the past. Students will have aid in plenty of time to get ready for the start of the semester.
“Being able to pay this money to the students is crucial. Without it, they would not be able to buy books, pay for housing, or cover general expenses that they have related to coming to school,” said Annette Edwards, director of the Financial Aid Office. “Enrollment might be negatively affected if we were unable to pay out the money that the students are expecting,” she added.
Sixty percent of CSU, Chico students receive financial aid in the form of grants, loans, work-study and scholarships. A significant amount of the grant money is state funded.
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