Resident advisers at a loss in late change to aid

Resident advisers (RAs) found out earlier this month that the financial aid they were awarded at the beginning of the semester has changed.

The changes are due to a voluntary, internal audit known as the Standards of Excellence (SOE), the results of which were announced in August. Student RAs will now be required to pay back a portion of the pledged financial aid.

"I had a zero balance on my student account... Then, suddenly a zero account balance became $2,937 that I had to pay back," said Abie Boukai, a senior sociology major and third-year resident adviser (RA).

According to Cindy Kohlman, UB's new director of financial aid, RAs are facing the "same exact" issue as veterans did earlier this semester.

A Sept. 26 story in The Spectrum reported that veterans were being notified that they were financially responsible for money that was incorrectly distributed at the beginning of the semester.

An e-mail from the Student Response Center (SRC) explained that the university had not been correctly calculating veterans' GI Bill benefits into their estimated cost of attendance. Resident advisers received a similar e-mail on Oct. 6.

"We have become aware that the university did not take into account our students' housing and meal plan benefits when calculating their financial aid package," Kohlman said in an Oct. 6 e-mail. "Now that we have become aware of this situation, we are required by federal law to review the financial aid package of all students who receive these benefits."

Andrea Patterson, a second-year RA and junior biological sciences major, said those who were trying to do more for the university were the ones being targeted.

"I feel like it's affecting people who are taking an extra responsibility for the school," Patterson said. "Thank God I got my refund check, there are some people that didn't get a refund check and now they owe money."

The Office of Financial Aid is required to take action because the university is officially aware of the situation through the audit, Kohlman said.

"It was identified in the SOE and therefore we really need to fix it because if we don't... the institution could be liable and could be fined," she said.

Boukai said he felt as though the university was taking the easy route in the recession - taking the problem of budget cuts to students.

"Notice that during economic turmoil, all of a sudden, they are not in government compliance," Boukai said. "Is it a coincidence?"

However, Kohlman said that budget cuts and mid-semester changes to students' financial aid awards "are definitely mutually exclusive."

"This has nothing to do with the budget, this has to do with effective and proper administration of financial aid," Kohlman said. "We're working through that report and have put corrective measures wherever we're required."

Nicole Brown, a first-year RA and member of the Equal Opportunity Program, said that she lost two grants which added up to about $1,200 because of the changes.

Brown said she also lost an entire federal unsubsidized loan, 75 percent of her available work study amount, and had the amount of a subsidized loan lowered.

"I kind of have my back against the wall... as an EOP student I need my financial aid," Brown said. "When I applied for this job... I [didn't] have to take a loan out anymore. It wasn't like I didn't need my grants."

Kohlman said that all RAs should schedule an appointment with the SRC.

"It's a case-by-case basis and therefore we encourage them to see a financial aid advisor," Kohlman said. "Every student impacted by this did receive a revised award letter."

Boukai said that he was hoping for some good news during his meeting with a financial aid advisor, but did not receive any.

"They told me that 'The best we can do for you is extend the payments until May of 2009.' But the thing is, they also said that I can't make that decision unless I agreed to pay installment loans on a regular basis," he said.

Boukai explained he has to create and stick to strict budgets.

"So I don't end up out of school, on the street somewhere," he said. "I don't have someone to run to if I'm in an extreme situation."

This leaves, for Boukai and many other RAs, the question of how to finance payments on a weekly or even monthly basis.

"I already have a second job, and...this is my fourth year," he said. "What am I supposed to do to cover these costs? Am I supposed to get a third job to pay the money?"

Kohlman said that the situation rose from the poor timing of the report's results.

"Unfortunately, if the timing would have been a little bit better, we could have [avoided dispersing] the aid, and lowered any aid as necessary," Kohlman said. "But by the time we received the final report... we had already dispersed some financial aid funds."