Financial aid extends extension date

In a recent interview with the Richland Chronicle, Rick Renshaw, the centralized director of financial aid for the Dallas County Community College District said, "Yes, I do anticipate that the district will be able to meet the new extension date of Aug. 16 for award letters to be posted to student accounts or e-connect."

Instead of allowing classes to be dropped if they are not paid by the due date, which is standard procedure, the DCCCD Financial Aid department decided to grant an extension to protect classes from being dropped.

By July 31, the first extension-protection date, 11,000 applications had been received and by the second extension-protection date of Aug. 8, that had increased to 16,000 applications.

The DCCCD is once again experiencing

record financial aid application numbers.

As of July 29, 2010, the total number of applications received was 42,000. By July 29, 2011, that number had risen to 48,000.

Renshaw said many of these students have already registered and he expects many more when award letters are received.

For students who did not qualify for financial aid, notices have already been sent out in order to give them enough time to pay for their classes.

According to a notice on the DCCCD home page, the extension is due to the implementation of new federal rules and guidelines regarding

the reorganization procedures undertaken to improve service.

Renshaw said that 13,000 Pell Grant awards were to be released on Aug. 11, earlier than the

anticipated date of Aug. 16.

The Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, the Texas Educational Opportunity Grant, Texas Grants and the Texas Public Education Grant awards are not expected to be ready to go out by the anticipated date of Aug. 16.

On Aug. 15, the financial aid staff was scheduled to review where they are and, if necessary, an extension will be granted to protect the classes until all award letters are processed.

One of the major complaints students had in previous years was not being able to talk to a live person when they called the Financial Aid department. This year, the district retained the services of Global Financial Aid Services to help with the verification process and the processing of

financial aid applications.

At the summer DCCCD chancellor's

luncheon, held in July, Dr. Wright

Lassiter, chancellor, said that the total cost of the project amounted to $550,000 a year for the verification services and an additional $1.2 million for the construction and staffing of the call center.

There have also been problems with dropped calls and delays.

Renshaw said that the problem is due to one of the trunk lines being down, putting 48 phone lines out of commission. He expects the repairs to be completed soon.