Grants should be distributed soon
The bursar’s office will soon be able to distribute state grants to KU students, but not until the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) provides a roster of students receiving aid and transfers funds to the university.
There is no specific date on which funds will be available, but the process is under way without any announced reduction in award amounts.
Wendy A. Pursell, university bursar, wrote in an e-mail to The Keystone about the status of state grant disbursement.
“We should be receiving a roster of students and their awards shortly–five to seven business days later, after receipt of the roster, we get the funds. Once we get the funds we will disburse them immediately,” said Pursell.
Until PHEAA distributes the roster of students and transfers funds appropriately, the bursar’s office cannot distribute any grants.
Precisely when the roster of students receiving state grants and therefore when funds will be distributed is still guess work.
“Mid-November was our initial guess, I do feel it could be by the end of next week,” said Pursell. “We do not have a date since it is dependent on the roster and the transfer of funds.”
According to Pursell, students who did not respond to PHEAA validation requests at all or in a timely manner could miss the first disbursement period, but this is unrelated to the university or any budgetary confusion.
As a result of the 101-day budget impasse that ended on Oct. 9, PHEAA could not distribute funds until Pennsylvania passed a budget because they are a state agency. As a result, students who receive aid from PHEAA are still waiting for their grants halfway through the semester.
Pursell assured The Keystone that the bursar’s office is fully prepared for the time when funds are available.
“The whole bursar team is on standby so we can disburse these funds immediately and issue any checks for overpayments with the same sense of urgency,” Pursell said.
The budget problems have affected the university in many ways. Though grant allocations should remain the same as estimated over the summer, funds that the university receives have been reduced.
According to a letter sent to faculty from President F. Javier Cevallos, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) will be receiving nine percent less money than it did in the last academic year.
To help public institutions handle the budgetary shortfalls, the federal government will grant PASSHE $65.2 million in stimulus funds. Of that money, KU expects to receive $5.8 million.
The stimulus funds are only available for use during this academic year, and there are stipulations on what they can be used for.
Cevallos said that planning is beginning now for the next few years, when stimulus funds will not be available and anticipated cost increases in utilities, benefit packages and salaries coupled with decreased state funding could result in significant fiscal challenges.
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