Student seeks answers to financial aid

Dear editor: As a senior here at GSU, I must admit that I am very displeased with the universitites effort in financial aid this year. Not so much with the funding but in the way that things are being handled. Many students here were awarded work study for the current 2006-2007 school year, however, they have not been able to start due to the disorganization that is going on in financial aid. To be precise about it, work study awards were to be given out on Aug. 28 (that didn’t happen), then again on Sept. 1, which was scheduled to Sept. 5. Once Sept. 5 came around students were told that work study funds had been depleted and students who were awarded work study needed to return at 3 p.m. to recieve their verification and award letters. Once everyone returned, I would say out of the 50 people who got there early (including myself), we were told that our paperwork wasn’t there and to return to recieve the paperwork later on that week. The questions many students wanted to know was… Why am I being given the extra run around? Students are waiting for an answer to that question, because since the 28th of August work study has been put off… shouldnt that have given counselors enough time to have everything ready? Then after we were told our paperwork was not ready, we were told to come back later in the week and our paperwork SHOULD be avaiable to us. Upon returning on September 7 2006 , I was handed an appointment card for September 26 2006 (almost 3 weeks later) to get my award letter. What fails to come to the surface is, that work study students get paid once a month and if you are awarded 100-200 hours, how are we supposed to work all of those hours if we can’t even get our verification letters? That means we will be missing out on money, theres no way that the hours awarded will be worked. How? If workstudy was to be postponed this long, then why did the university even offer it? We have waited in the long lines and been extremely understanding. Now its the staffs turn in financial aid to do what they get paid for. Destiny Pearson A concerned student