Funds nearly exhausted
Financial aid awaits word from feds
By ANN PORTAL
Of the Emerald
The financial aid office is ready and willing to begin
handing out aid to summer term students, but it faces
one obstacle — it doesn’t have the money
A lower-than-anticipated financial aid surplus and
a $200,000 shortfall in collections this year have nearly
exhausted the office's funds As a result, not enough
money has been conserved during the year to finance
summer financial aid
Lance Popoff, assistant financial aid director, says
no aid will be disbursed until July 1, when federal grant
money will replenish the financial aid coffers
"At that time we re back in business — we can
honor all those commitments we've made,” he says
However, the federal money only will cover
National Direct Student Loans and Supplemental
Educational Opportunity Grants Basic Educational
Opportunity Grants still are being discussed by Con
gress and summer allocations may not be available for
several weeks
As soon as Congress decides on a BEOG funding
level and the education department sends the Univer
sity a cost-of-education schedule, the financial aid
office will begin BEOG payments In the meantime,
Popoff says students will have to make it “the best way
that they can "
Popoff's office is doing all it can to aid financially
strapped students
A new "special short-term loan" is being worked
out to allow undergraduates to borrow up to $500 and
graduates to borrow up to $650 until July 1 The loan
first must be used for tuition and deposits, with the
remainder being spent on food and books Popoff says
the loan should be entirely repaid as soon as the
financial aid voucher is received, and that the loans are
only for students with financial aid totaling at least $100
more than the amount of their loan
Because students must pay fees before applying
for a loan, some may consider the loans a Catch-22,
Popoff says But the University only can loan money to
certified students, he says
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"Inherent in that definition is that you pay your
tuition and fees "
Popoff says he would prefer aid recipients to wait
until July 1 to pay their tuition, instead of taking out the
emergency loans The short-term loan fund, which
contains only $200,000, should be used only by "de
sperately needy” students, he says.
Late fees - usually $5 the first day and $1 each
additional day — will be automatically waived for
students who pay their tuition with a financial aid
voucher, Popoff says No arrangements need be made
as long as the tuition is paid by July 1, he says
Popoff says the latest reports from Washington
indicate BEOGs will be lowered a total of $80 next year
— about $26 each term. Although he says he is hopeful
that BEOGs will be disbursed "sometime” during the
summer, Popoff says it may be fall before summer
BEOGs are available If that happens, it’s possible that a
double payment may be made in the fall, he says.
Popoff says a downturn in the economy helped to
create the summer aid shortage Students are repaying
fewer loans because they can’t get jobs or aren’t
earning enough to continue payments — they "are not
necessarily defaulting,” he says.
Financial aid also has spent "a little more than
anticipated’’ trying to meet the needs of students this
year, Popoff says
Each year, financial aid may commit nearly twice
what it actually has available, to allow for students who
refuse aid or attend another school, he says Statistics
show that a certain percentage always can be saved, so
"we always overcommit the money we have to spend ”
Popoff says there is a "remote possibility” that his
office may have overcommitted for the next fiscal year,
and that there is a slight chance of across-the-board
reductions in aid. The amount of work study aid
accepted by students is within limits, but "NDSL looks a
little shaky,” he says.
Depending on the Legislature’s budget, Oregon
State Need grants could go up slightly because original
offers were based on pessimistic estimates, Popoff
says Final grant amounts may be increased late in the
summer, he adds.
Guaranteed Student Loans still are in a state of flux,
Popoff says. Congress is considering several GSL
revisions, including legislating a $25,000 income cap,
raising the interest rate to 14 percent (which the student
still would begin paying only after graduation) and
eliminating the in-school interest subsidy (interest
would begin while the student is in school)
Summer Sidewalk Specials
Close out prices on lots of merchandise!
• Running Shorts • T-Shirts
• Sweatshirts • Jerseys
• Calculators • Radios
• Clock Radios
Books sold by the pound
and sale priced from $1.98
And much, much more!
Limited to stock on hand
I 13th & Kincaid
1 Mon-Fri 8:15-5:30
BOOKSTORE
Textbooks 686-3520 • General Books 686-3510 • Supplies 686-4331
Oregon Daily Emerald Summer Orientation Issue
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