Out of state students struggle with financial aid

Over the summer a record number of students attended freshman orientation. The numbers from then and now are not looking so much the same. When going to class this semester, there are less students in classes where normally there would be no chairs in the classes to even sit down in. But why is this? Alexis Baptiste, senior psychology major from New Orleans, LA says “A lot of my out of state friends are not here, they have been going home left and right and they’re saying they’re going home because financial Aid isn’t processing their loans quickly enough. It is causing them to get kicked out of their housing and their classes being purged.” Baptiste continued to say “I have been in financial aid this year and all of my stuff was processed on time and I just had to go in once to make sure everything was in order.” So if there is no problem with her financial aid being an instate student what may be the problem with out of students? Kent Battiste financial aid Counselor explains “There is no difference in the processing of Financial Aid for in-state students or out of state students, it is all the same process. The reason students are not getting their financial aid on their account is because they aren’t taking the necessary precautions when submitting their FAFSA. If you submit all of the documents on time with the FAFSA then you will have everything posted on your banner account before the semester starts.” Battiste elaborates saying “A top reason that students do not think that their financial Aid is on their account is because they do not know how to use or access their self-service banner account. It may just be as simple of a problem that they have been awarded but they haven’t accepted the full award.” But if that’s not your problem and you have to talk to a financial aid counselor, you can go and wait in a long line, wait never mind there are no lines. “This is the first time in years that there were no long lines for financial aid, and the reasoning of this is because of the new Jag Q app that I had the pleasure of helping to start and implement to the student body.” says Battiste. Battiste advises students to take the necessary steps next semester to make sure all of their registration is complete and to do everything by the deadlines so that it can give the financial aid office enough time to process everything and make sure that every student has their correct award amounts. If you have any questions about your financial aid you can always go into the financial aid office or contact them at 225-771-2790 or via email or on the Fafsa.ed.gov website. Hopefully if you go through these steps that were explained you will never have any trouble while being an in-state or out of state student during your matriculation here at Southern University.