Important Financial Aid Updates

Greetings!

2023-2024 Financial Aid 

Great news! The Financial Aid Office is current on reviewing files for Winter quarter.  Students who have already applied and submitted all required documentation should receive an aid offer notification if they have not so already. Disbursement of financial aid money begins on January 5 for winter quarter. This date is based on compliance of when funds to students can be disbursed. 

Students applying now should check that all outstanding documents have been submitted and plan to pay their tuition (or make tuition payment arrangement) if their aid has not been finalized by the tuition deadline of January 3, 2024.   Note: Because the disbursement of financial aid will start on January 5, all financial aid students who have an aid offer notification are protected from being dropped for non-payment. 

Please encourage students who plan to attend this coming Winter and/or Spring to apply for 2023-2024 financial aid if they have not already done so. For assistance with financial aid application and/or questions, please have students visit our financial aid office, M-TH, 8-5pm, and Friday, 8-12 or by email at Financialaid@shoreline.edu.

To see if students are eligible for other funding opportunities, check https://www.shoreline.edu/apply-and-aid/funding-and-aid/default.aspx

2024-2025 Financial Aid Application 

The biggest change to financial aid in 40 years is occurring with the 2024-25 FAFSA. These changes impact how students and their parents are required to complete the application as well as processing for financial aid offices.  It will require the financial aid office to learn new policies, create new forms, and set up the ctcLink system. These are just a few examples of the changes the financial aid office will be implementing. 

Students across the country are expected to be able to complete the 2024-2025 aid applications starting on December 31, 2023.  This is much later than the usual October 1 date the form becomes available.   The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) can be completed at www.studentaid.gov/fafsa and the Washington Application for State Financial Aid (WASFA) can be completed at www.wsac.gov/wasfa.   The 2024-2025 financial aid applications are for students who plan to enroll for the 2024-2025 year (Summer 2024, Fall 2024, Winter 2025 & Spring 2025).  

To learn more about the changes and the communication to our students, please visit:  https://www.shoreline.edu/apply-and-aid/funding-and-aid/financial-aid/fafsa-simplification.aspx

Based on these unprecendented changes, the financial aid office is not expected to receive applications until late January.  As a result, we anticipate the earliest we may begin processing files is late March or early April. We will  communicate any changes to this timeline.  Please help narrate the timeline to our students and encourage them to apply as early as possible. We will make sure all students who apply and submit their required documents by our recommended priority deadlines are protected from being dropped for non-payment while they await their aid offer. 

Winter Quarter Emergency Aid

The Winter quarter emergency aid application opens on December 28. The Financial Aid Office will begin disbursing emergency aid on January 5.

Starting Winter quarter emergency aid will be handled through the Benefits Hub. For assistance with the application or questions, students can either schedule an appointment with a Benefits Hub Coach at https://benefitshub.as.me/schedule.php or email emergencyaid@shoreline.edu.

Welcome Back to School and a Disability-Inclusive Environment!

It’s that time of year, with campuses throughout the country starting school again for the Fall. As we think about the back-to-school routine, we in the Accessibility Advisory Committee (AAC) immediately think of accessibility for those with disabilities—students, teachers, and all school employees alike—comes to mind.

What can the school do?

Schools have an obligation to offer alternative formats (such as large print or Braille) of forms upon request. However, in this digital age, it is advisable that all required forms, such as those required when students apply for services, be as accessible as possible. Word documents are most accessible (rather than PDFs) and can be password-protected from editing. 

Where can students get assistance?

In higher education institutions, it is required that the college have a disability services office, or what we at Shoreline Community College (SCC) call Student Accessibility Services. At Shoreline, students may email SAS at sas@shoreline.edu or visit Room 5226. If students are interested in registering with SAS, they will apply for services, and meet with their assigned access specialist to determine reasonable accommodations for them in the classroom or in the Residence Hall. College-level accommodations may be significantly different than those the student may have had in a K-12 setting, or even from what they had at another institution. Faculty and staff are welcome to reach out as well for more information. It is important to recognize that SAS holds students’ confidentiality as an extremely high priority.

Is there tuition funding specifically for students with disabilities?

While students with disabilities may apply for Funding & Aid Sources, should they meet the eligibility criteria, there are some specific options for those with disabilities. University of Washington’s Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology (DO-IT) program has substantial summary of funding available on its College Funding for Students for Disabilities webpage. At Shoreline, the Michael Thompson Scholarship for Students with Disabilities is specifically for those with any type of disability who are registered with SAS. Some students also find tuition assistance through the Department of Vocation Rehabilitation or Shoreline’s own Workforce Education program.

What about reasonable accommodations for staff and faculty?

Staff and faculty with disabilities who think that they would benefit from workplace accommodations under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act should work with SCC’s Human Resources office. Part of this process is submitting the “ADA Request Form,” which may be found on the Faculty and Staff Intranet “Other.” More information may be found by reviewing the College’s Policy 4114.

What else can we do as a campus?

As with any institution, there may be barriers to accessibility that SCC staff notice. These may be inaccessible forms online, physical barriers on the campus, or other issues. Feel free to contact the Chair of AAC, Miranda Levy, at mlevy@shoreline.edu, and she will direct your concern to the appropriate department. Working as a team, bringing the whole campus community together to solve some kinks in the system, will make our campus more inclusive and will make students and staff more comfortable being a part of Shoreline life.

Resources

Students with Disabilities Preparing for Postsecondary Education: Know Your Rights and Responsibilities Information for students with disabilities from the U.S. Department of Education.

Campus Housing for Students with Health Conditions and Physical Disabilities – Some example of residence hall accommodations and modifications.

The ABCs of Back to School – Employment accommodations for teachers from the Job Accommodation Network (JAN).

How are we doing?

Please submit feedback about the information that the Accessibility Advisory Committee shares to Miranda Levy via email at mlevy@shoreline.edu so that the committee can review together and serve the campus community better.

Starfish Update

Hello Shoreline Faculty & Staff, 

As we promised in the summer, we are sending another partial snapshot of Starfish user data for fall. While we still cannot restore the nightly data imports until the college server is back online, we will be sending certain data that will make working with students in Starfish easier while ongoing restoration efforts continue. 

As a reminder, the following things will update: 

  • In addition to the students who were added in the last partial update on July 28th, students who are enrolled in classes as of September 12th will also have full Starfish profiles. These students will be able to log in and book appointments in Starfish directly.  
  • Any students who have been assigned to an advisor in ctcLink by or before September 12 will now be connected to that advisor in Starfish. 
  • Students’ class enrollments as of 9/12/2023 will be reflected in Starfish. Please note that no subsequent add/drop activity will be reflected until the nightly data import is fully restored. 
  • Instructors will be able to see their current students as of 9/12 in Starfish. 
  • New staff who were hired by the college by or before September 12 may be able to receive Starfish permissions as relevant for their work. If your area is already using Starfish and has hired new staff in this period, please contact Caitlin Jacques at cjacques@shoreline.edu to have their permissions updated. 

The following will still not update: 

  • Students who have applied to the college since the ransomware incident but have NOT enrolled will not gain access, as they lack network IDs. Only students enrolled in classes as of 9/12/23 or earlier will be in Starfish. 
  • Student attributes and organizations will not update – information seen on the overview and info tab will still be incomplete or out of date. Please refer to ctcLink rather than Starfish for this information, and do not attempt to use the filter function in Starfish until further notice. 
  • Staff who have demographic or organization-specific relationships with students in Starfish may still not be connected to all of the students they work with. This includes groups like Veteran and Military Student Services, Transitional Studies, and Workforce Funding. Impacted students will include both those new to the college since March 20th and any students who have been recoded into impacted groups since that date. 
  • Information will not update in real time after the import – changes made after September 12 will not be reflected in Starfish until further notice. 

When will I see the updates? 

  • Barring any unexpected technical complications, Starfish will be updated sometime on 9/13/2023. 
  • The Starfish Admin will merge existing prospective student profiles by or before the end of business day after the data updates in Starfish. 
  • The announcement banner in Starfish will be updated once the data import is complete.   

This is the second of these updates. Can’t we just do this regularly until the server is back? 

  • This manual upload is a very complex process for both the college and EAB. Both this update and the previous update took several weeks to arrange and prepare, so it isn’t something we can do often.   
  • We negotiated two manual updates with EAB: the first back on 7/28/23, and the second which is happening now to bring in Fall students for the busy advising season. 

Thank you all for your patience as we continue to work with Starfish users to maintain as much functionality as possible. As always, if you have any questions about this or anything else Starfish related, please feel free to reach out to me!  

Caitlin Jacques, PhD  
 Business Analyst – Starfish  
 Guided Pathways  

Student Learning Center to Resume Operations for Summer Quarter on Monday 7/10

The Student Learning Center Will Resume Operations for Summer Quarter on Monday 7/10

Students can receive free tutoring either by scheduling an appointment on Starfish or by stopping by one of our learning centers in the Library (4000 building)!

Our hours for Summer Quarter are:

Math & Science Learning Center (4213)

  • Monday through Thursday: 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

Writing Studio (4310)

  • Monday through Thursday: 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

SCC : Tutoring

Shoreline CC is offering free in-person tutoring services to all Shoreline students in the library! See hours and room numbers below:

Writing Studio (Room 4301):
Mon:  9am-5pm
Tues:  9am-4pm
Wed:  11am-5pm
Thu:  11am-4pm
Fri: 10am-3pm

Math, Biology & Chemistry (Room 4213):
Mon:  1-5pm
Tues:  10-5pm
Wed:  1-5pm
Thu:  CLOSED
Fri:  11am-4pm

Computer Science, Physics, Engineering (Room 4228):
Mon:  11am-3pm
Tues:  CLOSED
Wed:  9am-3pm
Thu:  10am-3pm
Fri:  CLOSED

For all online tutoring services, please go to etutoringonline.org for free drop-in virtual assistance
For additional questions, please email us at pttutors@shoreline.edu, or come to room 4228!