Hundreds of Students May Lose Financial Aid

On the first day of winter quarter, Alisha Burch was shocked to discover that, according to her financial aid portal, she owed Santa Clara $12,000.

The senior chemistry major is one of the many students potentially impacted by Santa Clara’s new ability to enforce an existing federal financial aid policy. Santa Clara’s recent adoption of “Workday” enables automatic tracking of student aid eligibility according to enrollment, correcting previous lapses in enforcement. Rumors and concerns have been circulating among students regarding the exact nature of the policy and its implications.

On Jan. 31, the One-Stop Enrollment Services Center released information clarifying current financial aid eligibility guidelines to address “recent concerns raised by the Associated Student Government” in an open letter sent to the student body on Jan. 29.

One-Stop’s email encouraged students to “not alter their class schedule out of concern for their financial aid eligibility.” As of 2021, over 65% of the student body was eligible for some sort of financial aid coverage, according to a 990 Public Disclosure.

The office said that they do not expect many students to be impacted during spring quarter because of the small number of students that were impacted in the fall and winter quarters.

According to Senate Chair Evan Fine, the Financial Aid Office repeatedly requested over email that ASG not publish the open letter until their office could produce a statement. With the deadline to drop courses while still receiving a refund and avoiding a W on their transcript set at Feb. 2 at 5 p.m., Fine said ASG needed to share the letter as soon as possible.

“Over 200 students went to Drahmann just because their financial aid was being pulled,” Fine said. “It just seemed far too urgent to push off. We're just trying to let students know about something that will affect them or someone that they almost certainly know. To not do that seems like a grave disservice to the reason why we were elected.”

Although this policy has been in place for several years, only with the advent of the new Workday system has the university been able to enforce it. Students who have already completed 175 units can retain their financial aid allowance by enrolling in at least 12 units going toward their majors, minors, core or pathways, according to Fine.

“We are getting notified by the registrar's office so we know which classes are degree-seeking, and only those can be covered by financial aid,” said a representative from the financial aid office at a virtual FAFSA information session on Jan. 22. “We are working with the registrar’s office to get you guys more information on that and getting in touch with students who are getting affected.”

For students like Burch, circumstances outside of their control impact the number of degree-related units they can enroll in.

“I could not graduate early if I tried,” Burch said. “I was told I only had to be a full-time student to receive my scholarship, and I have three classes left for my major, two of which are only offered next quarter.”

According to Burch, advisors in the Drahmann Center told her she had two options to reclaim her scholarship: become a part-time student or declare a new minor. Burch lives in the university villas and depends on the dining plan. She was worried dropping all her non-major classes would breach her full-time student contract at the villas. Instead, Burch opted to declare a theater minor, overloading her schedule.

“After hearing this, I was very distraught because I had never heard of this policy before,” Burch said. “Declaring a minor caused a lot of stress and messed up my schedule. It was another workload I wasn’t planning for.”

Fine, a Music and Political Science double major, feels slighted by the sudden enforcement.

“We came to a school that prides itself on letting students take classes outside their major and experience a holistic education,” Fine said. “And now seniors, double majors, double minors and people with over 175 units are going to find their need-based and merit-based financial aid revoked for a policy that they have never heard of, that they've never seen.”

According to One-Stop’s email, the Financial Aid Office plans to identify and contact any affected students by Feb. 5 to provide individualized advice. The office did not provide comment.