Students around campus have expressed concern and frustration over the delays in receiving financial aid.

With the increase in enrollment for the spring semester and additional applicants for FAFSA, Skyline’s financial aid office has come under pressure to send out more support to students.

As of last semester, almost 4,000 students applied for FASFA in the San Mateo district. Approximately 2,800 of these students were registered at Skyline College. Unfortunately, only about half of the FAFSA applicants were actually eligible for support.

Financial aid director Maria Escobar believes that many of the problems that students face are due in part to not getting all their paperwork together. 

“You need to take care of yourself,” Escobar said. “Monitor your file and make sure what needs to be there, gets there.” 

According to Escobar, students receive notification on the necessary paperwork they need to complete their applications. The information submitted on the student’s individual FAFSA is used for disbursements. 

Several Skyline students expressed disappointed with the status of their disbursements.

“They never end, they keep asking for different kind of papers,” Illihan Belbou said. “They should for ask everything at once.”

Others who also have delayed financial aid are trying to come up with ways to stay active in class and on top of homework.

“I can’t do my homework without my books,” said Skyline student Camill Wieland. “I’ve been using online labs and borrowing friends’ books.”

Once all the needed paperwork is in and on file, it will usually take a week for the checks to get sent out. Unfortunately, not having all the paperwork submitted in a timely fashion can more than double the time needed to get your information processed for your disbursement.

“If a file is approved we do disbursements every week,” Escobar said. “If you continue to wait, it just prolongs the eligibility.”

Increased enrollment means that there have been many more FASFA applicants this semester.

Currently, there are only five faculty members working in the financial aid office, along with student assistants. While staff size hasn’t increased, the office is seeing more students apply to work directly in the financial aid office.

“The staff really understands that you need your money,” Escobar said. “Total payments are split in half and are sent out twice per semester. Once you get all your paperwork in, your second payment will be adjusted to include your first one.” 

Despite all this, Escobar is optimistic for this semester’s disbursements and feels confident that students will eventually get all the funding they need.

“We have awarded more Pell Grants this year to date then last year,” Escobar said. You don’t want to wait until the last minute.”