Student loan applications increase by 50 percent, cause delays

The Scholarship and Financial Aid office claims it was keeping up with processing applications for financial aid fairly well until August. However, some students say they have been waiting all summer for their loans to go through.

Denise Spudic, a graduate assistant for communication studies, said she filled out her student loan forms in mid-July, requesting the maximum amount of subsidized loans.

"I called [the Bursar's office] persistently for three weeks, starting August 12," she said. "I noticed my graduate fee remission wasn't going through."

Student loans were applied to her account a day before the extended deadline of September 3. Spudic was not the only student with these kinds of concerns.

Director of Scholarship and Financial Aid Bob Zellers said there was a large increase in applications for student loans this year. Compared to last year, he said, there has been a 50 percent increase in number of applications, given the national and state economy.

"We weren't expecting that kind of increase," he said. "We expected 20 or 30 percent, but nothing like this."

Zellers said they were keeping up with processing the loans fairly well, but in August there was a huge increase in applications. About 60 percent of the loan applications came in at the beginning of August, Zellers said.

He also noted another complication: sometimes students don't realize that award letters simply denote eligibility for a loan, and after receiving the award letter, students need to turn in request forms for financial aid.

Processing student loans should take about five business days, Zellers said. However, the increased number of applications made processing and awarding grants take longer than many students might like.

Financial Aid Advisor Janet Trimble said she believes the credit crisis has a lot to do with more students asking for financial aid.

"A large part of what we're dealing with is credit companies cracking down on who can co-sign on private loans," she said. "There's been a huge amount of job loss, and so we're seeing more students and parents taking out loans."


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