Financial Aid Applications up 67%

Michael Farris, Germanna's Financial Aid Coordinator, reports that applications for financial aid this year are up 67% as of August 6 over last year at the same time. This is 104% increase over the same point in 2007.

Despite no increase in staff in the Financial Aid office because of state budget cuts, Michael and his colleagues have managed to keep up with this tremendous growth in demand. My personal thanks goes out to all of them for going above and beyond to help our students afford college.

Michael reports that students may still apply for financial aid right up to the start of classes. However, he notes that students' awards may not be ready in time to pay for classes the longer that they wait.

Therefore, "... [the student] needs to be prepared to make payment at the time of registration. After the August 12th tuition due date has passed, payment is due at the time of registration. For these students, financial aid is used to reimburse for courses already paid for and cannot be processed quickly enough to reserve courses."

This dramatic increase in applications for aid is due to two things: 1) the economy is causing many more students to need assistance; and 2) Michael, his staff, and counselors and student affairs staff have done a tremendous job of reaching out to students and informing them in a timely way. My thanks again to them all.