Image: WCU Financial Aid Office, via wcupa.edu
The current state of Financial Aid at West Chester University has been rough and has started to take a toll on the financial circumstances of students. During the 2024 fall semester, WCU students have faced increased hardship in getting financial aid scholarships applied to their WCU bursar accounts. What was once a routine process that could be completed with the click of a button on MyWCU has now become a months-long process.
For Tei Hurst, a senior English major, the current financial aid situation was particularly frustrating. Hurst reached out to Financial Aid on July 30, in regard to the arrival of an external scholarship she received from her father’s employer. It should be noted that Hurst graduates this December and requested the scholarship to be applied entirely to the fall semester, as opposed to being split between the fall and spring semesters.
Despite reaching out to the Financial Aid Office a month before school started and receiving confirmation that Financial Aid had received the scholarship check, she received no response. Eventually, Hurst was finally able to get a response after the Dean’s Office for the College of Arts and Humanities reached out on her behalf. The response was less than adequate for Hurst. Despite trying to communicate that her scholarship should be applied to the fall semester only, the Financial Aid Office responded by saying they had already split the check.
In her own words, “[The Financial Aid Office said]’Well there’s not really anything we can do,’ because at that point they had the check and they put it in, but they’ve split it. So, I had $1,750 towards this semester, $1,750 going towards a semester I wasn’t going to be here for.”
Hurst later followed up with the Financial Aid Office in an effort to fix the ongoing situation in order to ensure her scholarship would be properly distributed. At this point, the Financial Aid Office told her the only option was to process the $1,750 as a refund.
Only after about three more weeks, plenty more emails from the Bursar and Dean’s office on her behalf and two phone calls did she finally receive a refund for the $1,750 she was owed by the university. While a proper explanation of what went wrong with Hurst’s scholarship was never given, Hurst and her advisor assumed the main culprit was the floundering transition over to RamPortal.
The Quad reached out to the Financial Aid Office in regard to the ongoing issues WCU students have been experiencing. It should be noted that The Quad did not reach out to Financial Aid for comment on Hurst’s situation directly.
The following is a series of statements provided to The Quad by Executive Director of Financial Aid Daniel J. McIlhenny. As part of his response, McIlhenny requested The Quad provide all responses in the entirety given and without editing.
Can you confirm or deny that RamPortal is the root cause of a majority of these delays in distribution?
“As a nationwide challenge, the root cause for the delays in financial aid processing this year is due to the U.S. Department of Education’s delayed and flawed rollout of the FAFSA for the 2024-2025 academic year. Across the country, the late release of FAFSA data to colleges and schools has resulted in delays in preparing and distributing financial aid to numerous students — including to those of our students at WCU.
A spiraling effect has been set in motion by the FAFSA delays. The FAFSA delay prompted the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) to announce in late June that it has been forced to delay the release of student eligibility rosters to institutions. Normally, institutions would have finalized PHEAA rosters in a May/June timeframe which would give financial aid offices in the Commonwealth of PA time to process state grants and disburse them to student accounts before the start of the fall semester. These rosters provide institutions with student eligibility for a state grant and for determined amounts. As of today, however, institutions still have not received the necessary rosters from PHEAA and do not have a defined timeline on when they might receive them.
While the vast majority of the nationwide delays in the distribution of financial aid are due to the flawed FAFSA rollout which prompted the subsequent PHEAA delay, the PASSHE-mandated migration to a new Student Information System (SIS) — RAM Portal — has had a slight, although not significant, impact on processing; the new system brings numerous new processes for the management and disbursement of financial aid.”
Assuming that RamPortal is the primary issue causing delays in Financial Aid funds being distributed to students, what are some other issues behind the scenes contributing to this issue?
“As stated previously, the primary issue causing the nationwide delays in the distribution of financial aid is due to the Department of Education’s flawed FAFSA rollout, which has prompted a subsequent PHEAA delay regarding the release of required student eligibility rosters to institutions in the Commonwealth of PA. The PASSHE-mandated migration to a new Student Information System (SIS) — RAM Portal — has had a slight, although not significant, impact on processing; the new system brings numerous new processes for the management and disbursement of financial aid.”
What is the Financial Aid office doing to alleviate, and provide aid to students affected by these issues?
The Financial Aid Office is doing whatever it can to help students and it remains vigilant:
- In response to the unforeseen challenges, the university made the decision this year to relax the process whereby classes are canceled due to non-payment in order to allow time for financial aid to be processed and disbursed to student accounts.
- The office continues to disburse aid daily when new information is obtained to complete a student’s package. For example, when a student submits documentation for verification, or completes Master Promissory Notes, or entrance counseling, for loans.
- The office continues to actively reach-out and communicate to students when documentation and/or other information is needed to complete one’s financial aid package.
- Phone calls
- Emails
- Text messages
- The office continues to work directly and daily with other student-facing offices to ensure students’ needs are being met and that they are aware of the delays due to FAFSA and PHEAA.
- Office of the Bursar
- Office of the Registrar
- Academic Support & Advocacy (ASA) Center
- Housing/Student Life
- The Financial Aid Office welcomes meetings with students and families on a one-on-one basis.
- Schedule an appointment with a Financial Aid counselor, 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
- In-person
- Zoom
- Phone call
- Walk-ins are always welcomed
- Schedule an appointment with a Financial Aid counselor, 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
What can students be doing on their end to help the Financial Aid Office in garnering a quick resolution to their issues?
- Review Financial Aid information on Ram Portal for any missing information needed to complete your financial aid package – ex: MPN or entrance counseling
- Review FAFSA and other financial aid information at www.studentaid.gov
- Be sure to read all WCU email/text communications
- Respond immediately to calls, emails, or text messages from financial aid
- Attend Financial Aid future events
Is there any more information you believe is important for students to know about these issues?
- Be on the lookout for emails from WCU’s Financial Aid Office and check the Financial Aid website for dates regarding future events:
- Financial Aid Literacy presentations
- FAFSA filing assistance
- Visit the following site for FAFSA updates and/or issue alerts related to the 2024-2025 FAFSA form: https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/topics/fafsa-simplification-information/2024-25-fafsa-issue-alerts
- Be sure to read PHEAA’s FAQs and see the guidance provided for returning students: https://www.pheaa.org/grant-us/faq.shtml#whos-impacted
In short, while RamPortal seems to be the guilty party in the eyes of the students, Financial Aid points to the ongoing situation regarding PHEAA and FAFSA being the primary challenge affecting financial aid disbursements this semester. The current PHEAA delay as a result of the FAFSA overhaul has had an impact on Pennsylvania students beyond West Chester University. On this matter, PHEAA told ABC27 News:
“PHEAA continues to load FAFSA student records into the PA State Grant System to assess eligibility and calculate awards – which right now is only visible to the student’s school. PHEAA is working with schools to confirm eligibility of student awards before they are sent to student recipients.
We understand the frustration of the delayed PA State Grant processing, which was caused in part by issues surrounding the federal government’s 2024–2025 FAFSA simplification. Our goal is to have awards visible to students and disbursed to postsecondary schools this month, once we have ensured that award amounts are accurate.
PHEAA also wants students and families to be aware that the U.S. Department of Education has announced that the 2025–2026 FAFSA will not be fully open and available for completion until December 1, 2024.”
While the ongoing issues students are facing with financial aid look to be far from over, they should be aware of the efforts being made by the Financial Aid Office to mitigate these issues. After her own experience with these issues, Hurst had her own piece of advice for students: reach out to your advisor. As we closed our discussion she said, “My advisor was insanely helpful. She went out of her way for me and she didn’t have to.” Later saying if her advisor had not gotten involved “I don’t think anything would have happened.”
KC Thoman is a third-year English-Secondary Education Major, with a minor in Journalism.