ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 16, 1996 TAG: 9603180114
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
College students and their parents are being told not to worry about delays in processing forms for federal tuition assistance programs.
``We want people to understand there's no reason to panic, even if the process is behind,'' said Yvonne Hubbard, interim director of financial aid at the University of Virginia. ``The delay will not influence how much aid you'll get. Your [aid] eligibility has not changed.''
Computer foul-ups by U.S. Department of Education contractors, exacerbated by two government shutdowns and record snowfall on the East Coast, have delayed by weeks the forwarding of forms for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid program from millions of future freshmen and returning undergraduates to their public or private colleges.
The federal grants and loans last year totaled $32.5 billion.
The forms allow the government to determine how much federal grant money a student is qualified to receive, based on the taxable income of the student's family. Colleges and universities then use the information to figure the size of their scholarship offers.
Virginia college officials are confident the federal delays are being resolved. But should some new glitch develop, state colleges say, they'll work around it.
The typical May 1 admission acceptance deadlines could even be rolled back, should it come to that.
``I think there's more hype right now than problem,'' said John Sellers, financial aid director at James Madison University.
The Education Department processes about 10 million aid requests each year. With its contractors running around-the-clock shifts, the department says it will have all the analyzed forms to colleges by April 15.
LENGTH: Short : 41 linesby CNB