2008 Woodie Awards
Financial Aid is Not as Bad as People Think
Director Frank Cuozzo Answers Questions You've Been Dying to Know
Orvilee Morales
Issue date: 1/29/04 Section: Opinion
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Like many college students in the county, I am a very poor student who desperately needs money to try and continue my education. Now the time is creeping up once again for SuperBowl parties, spring break, and taxes. Along with these comes our unsung hero...FAFSA.
FAFSA is an application that students in financial need should fill out to receive money from state and federal governments through grants and loans for their education. Sadly enough, every start of the fall semester, students cry their little broken hearts out because there are so many mistakes and errors with their financial aid.
Whether refund checks come a week or a month late, or finances are not sufficent enough, the folks at financial aid gets the short end of the stick regardless of the real person to blame.
With all this in mind, I wonder if I did something wrong, or if the financial aid office is just another incompetent office in MSU. People tend to think that Financial Aid office is the perpetrator in all this.
The Financial Aid office just does not care if we run into any problems because they still get paid, right? Wrong. I would like to straighten out this false representation by sharing an interview I had with the director of Financial Aid office, Frank A. Cuozzo, where he gave me a couple things for students to consider about Financial Aid:
Orville Morales: What do you think about students and their feelings about financial aid?
Frank Cuozzo: If all the pieces do not come together correctly, then students are not satisfied. Students have this high expectation that the Financial Aid office will take care of everything without any need of the student.
OM: What is the big deal about having the FAFSA prepared in March when it is not due until June?
Cuozzo: FAFSA is important to be done on time. Done on time means in March. The reason for this is because everything can be done and all issues can be resolved well before fall semester begins.
OM: What other reasons are there for students to not receive financial aid on time?
FAFSA is an application that students in financial need should fill out to receive money from state and federal governments through grants and loans for their education. Sadly enough, every start of the fall semester, students cry their little broken hearts out because there are so many mistakes and errors with their financial aid.
Whether refund checks come a week or a month late, or finances are not sufficent enough, the folks at financial aid gets the short end of the stick regardless of the real person to blame.
With all this in mind, I wonder if I did something wrong, or if the financial aid office is just another incompetent office in MSU. People tend to think that Financial Aid office is the perpetrator in all this.
The Financial Aid office just does not care if we run into any problems because they still get paid, right? Wrong. I would like to straighten out this false representation by sharing an interview I had with the director of Financial Aid office, Frank A. Cuozzo, where he gave me a couple things for students to consider about Financial Aid:
Orville Morales: What do you think about students and their feelings about financial aid?
Frank Cuozzo: If all the pieces do not come together correctly, then students are not satisfied. Students have this high expectation that the Financial Aid office will take care of everything without any need of the student.
OM: What is the big deal about having the FAFSA prepared in March when it is not due until June?
Cuozzo: FAFSA is important to be done on time. Done on time means in March. The reason for this is because everything can be done and all issues can be resolved well before fall semester begins.
OM: What other reasons are there for students to not receive financial aid on time?