The financial aid department at San Diego State University kickedoff its biannual fair last Wednesday on Centennial Walkway.
The two-day affair provided students with information on applying,as well as answers to a variety of general questions.
Representatives from the financial aid office were available from9 a.m. until 2 p.m. each day.
“We’re here to make sure students know of the financial aid thatis available,” said financial aid analyst Luisa Larios-Ruiz. “We wantto be accessible to students who cannot make it up to our offices.”
Students were able to pick up a financial aid handbook for free.In it, students could find information on deadlines, how to apply forfinancial aid, school information and contact information on suchthings as the 24-hour aid line that is available to students.
SDSU assistant director of financial aid Chris Collins said thepurpose of the fair is to increase awareness about financial aid,even though two-thirds of SDSU students are on some form of financialaid, from scholarships to grants to loans.
“There has been an increase in financial aid over the past fiveyears,” Collins said. However, he said there is no concrete evidenceto support the idea that the increase is directly related to thefinancial aid fair.
Collins said the financial aid office also wants to give studentsan understanding that is beyond the concept of just what financialaid is.
He said the office wants to provide students with information onhow to apply, the timeline for applying, and all of the programsavailable to students.
The representatives at the fair had one specific goal in mind,Larios-Ruiz said.
“Our goal is to hand out as many applications as possible,” shesaid.
The most commonly asked question from students deals with whatstudents call “free money,” otherwise known as university grants, shesaid.
In regard to grants and other forms of aid, students areencouraged to go through the process and follow all the stepsinvolved in the application process, after which each student’seligibility is determined, she said.
Collins said the representatives at the fair do not answer a lotof specific questions related to each student’s unique financial aidcase. Students are asked to go to the financial aid office to receiveinformation on more specific questions.
According to one SDSU student, it appeared the fair was able tooffer more information than the office itself.
Summer Pelstring, a graphic design junior and a single mother withtwo children, said the financial aid office did not have thescholarship information she was looking for when she went.
Pelstring said she didn’t realize that all she had to do was walkfive more feet to the fair to receive the information she wanted.
“I received new info on scholarships,” she said. “Financial aid isreal important to me.”
