Financial Aid Processing Delays

Dear Campus Community,

I am writing to update you about the delays in processing financial aid by our Financial Aid Office (FAO) at Shoreline. When the College first converted from the old HP system to the new ctcLink system in March, the FAO team continued to navigate many of its familiar processes (specifically during the Spring Quarter) in HP.  And they did so as they simultaneously trained and prepared their staff on cTcLink. Their goal was to fully train their staff by the start of the Summer Quarter. 

It has been a steep learning curve for the FAO team (which many of you across campus have also navigated). They have done a tremendous job in managing this transition, onboarding new staff, and offering continuous training. Since the start of the Spring Quarter, the FAO team has also experienced many other unforeseen issues, including limited staffing, fraudulent enrollment activity, delays in communication and error-resolution from the SBCTC, as well as the structure and format of the training required to gain confidence in using cTcLink. 

The College has taken the issues above seriously, and has undertaken the following steps to provide support to the FAO team and for our students:

·         Develop an immediate connection to the SBCTC to gain support – and immediate response – when staff at Shoreline need assistance with processing financial aid.  Our new Dean, Chippi Bello, has been communicating with SBCTC to ensure regular feedback and training are occurring.

·         Identify additional outside staff to assist in daily financial aid processing.  Chippi Bello identified two individuals currently supporting the college in contract service that can assist in file review processing. We are seeking additional support for the team by adding two more part-time staff (for a total of 4 additional temporary staff).

·         The FAO team is reviewing and prioritizing their workload accordingly and making file review a top priority.

Although navigating these new processes around application review and packaging of financial aid for students in cTcLink is more cumbersome than in the previous system, the FAO team continues to learn and improve its capabilities. Additionally, they have been communicating and explaining these delays to students in the interest of transparency. Notably, any student who has applied for aid currently in the processing pipeline will have a hold placed on their account to prevent them from being dropped while the FAO team reviews and processes their application.  We ask that you please share this information with any concerned student you may interact with. 

If there are additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact Chippi Bello or me. 

Sincerely,

Dean Bello (cbello@shoreline.edu) and VP King.

Shoreline Community College

pking@shoreline.edu

206.546.4651