UCI undergraduate and graduate students experienced a three-week long delay in receiving their financial aid letters for the 2024-2025 school year, leading many to vocalize concern.
The Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships (OFAS) began notifying students of their aid letters through email on Sept. 10, concurrent with ZotAid technical difficulties that caused students to be unable to access their letters.
UCI Office of Student Affairs previously notified students who live in Student Housing and American Campus Communities (ACC) properties that the office was working with ACC and with OFAS “to ensure that students [were] not impacted by late fees or dropped from their housing,” in an email sent Sept. 4.
Graduate and undergraduate students were able to view premature financial aid letters on Sept. 6 and Sept. 7, but reported being unable to accept these aid offers. On Sept. 8 the “Messages” and “Financial” tab on students’ ZotAid — the new 2024-2025 financial aid student portal — disappeared.
“My financial aid award summary and all of my messages with a breakdown of the aid I’d be receiving is just missing,” Reddit user Lady8425 wrote on r/UCI. “Now I just can’t see it and have a message on the home tab that my ‘award is still being finalized.'”
As of September 11, the Financial Aid office has reported that they are still in the process of distributing financial aid letters. However, many students have expressed that they were not offered the amount of aid they expected to receive or received less than they have in previous years.
Reddit user Early_Butterfly3628 wrote on r/UCI that the UCI Grant they received this year was, “literally half of what it was,” in previous years. “This is a huge decrease, literally losing over half my grant and I don’t know why. Anyone else have this issue?” Early_Butterfly3628 explained.
A processing delay occurred in February due to an update to the SAI tables that accounted for inflation. In turn, colleges received students’ financial information beginning in March when they usually receive it in late January. The SAI miscalculated for dependent students who reported assets on their aid application. The US Department of Education announced that forms containing this information and delivered to schools before March 21 had to be reprocessed on March 22.
University of California and California State University campuses extended their Intent to Register for fall of 2024 from May 1 to May 15 as a result of the FAFSA delays.
OFAS Director Rebecca Sanchez described the issues with timely disbursement of financial aid packages to students as a result of Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) simplification issues in an email sent to students on Sept. 3.
“The Financial Aid team is working to address the backlog from Federal Student Aid FAFSA Simplification issues and ensure all students receive their financial aid offers without further delay,” Sanchez wrote. “We are taking steps to expedite the review and distribution of offer letters this week.”
According to a Sept. 7 email from OFAS, financial aid awards and stipends are also delayed for study abroad students and are expected to be available before the fee deadline.
UCI Registrar Elizabeth Bennett and Student Affairs Vice Chancellor Willie L. Banks Jr. acknowledged the continued delays as a consequence of “ongoing technical challenges” in an email sent to students on the evening of Sept. 8.
Bennett additionally confirmed that students waiting for their aid will not lose their classes or campus housing arrangements.
“This is completely unfair, disrespectful and annoying. Many low income students don’t even know if they can afford the upcoming school year and have rent payments to both defer and pay,” Reddit user bakedpotato1222 wrote on r/UCI. “So it’s leaving even more students in uncertainty… OFAS needs to get it together. At this point we need to start mass messaging our senators and legal representatives because it’s our money.”
The fall 2024 quarter tuition deadline remains Sept. 16 for UCI students, as clarified by Bennett and Banks’ email.
Campus Billing posted fall fees on Aug. 16 and stated that students who completed their financial aid application would see their aid letters posted as a credit by Aug. 30. Financial aid is typically released by the time quarter fees are posted.
Changes to the 2024-25 FAFSA included the new deadline of Dec. 31 as opposed to Oct. 1, introduction of the term “contributor” for individuals who provide financial information on the FAFSA, a requirement of both students and contributors to consent to the IRS tax information transfer and a change in the formula used to determine financial aid eligibility. The Student Aid Index (SAI) replaced the Estimated Family Contribution model, and fell in a range from -1500 to 999999.
To mitigate the challenges associated with the 2024-2025 FAFSA cycle, the US Department of Education announced in a press release that they will launch the 2025-2026 FAFSA form on Oct. 1 to a select set of students and schools for testing purposes. The application will then be available to all students beginning Dec. 1 for the official release.
“The Department listened carefully to the input of students, families and higher education institutions, made substantial changes to leadership and operations at Federal Student Aid, and is taking a new approach this year that will significantly improve the FAFSA experience,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in the press release regarding the 2024-25 FAFSA cycle.
OFAS did not immediately respond to New University’s request for comment.
“I’m a rising sophomore who was supposed to be studying Business Administration in the fall, but it looks like I might not be able to anymore,” Remarkable_Stick9124 on r/UCI posted on Reddit.
They claim to have submitted an emergency appeal to receive financial aid after their parents lost their jobs. After allegedly being assured that their appeal was received, the financial aid package they received was not enough for them to pay their tuition.
“I am trying my best to continue my education at UCI, but if this financial aid issue can’t be solved I will have to take a gap quarter/semester off and transfer to a local cc in my home state. I really hope this isn’t the case as I love living in California but I also don’t want to take too much time off of school,” Remarkable_Stick9124 wrote.
Students will receive emails when their financial aid offers are available on ZotAccount.
Editors Note: A quote was substituted to clarify ZotAid technical difficulties as experienced by students.
Inga Chilingaryan is a News Intern for the summer 2024 quarter. She can be reached at chilingi@uci.edu.
Edited by Kaelyn Kwon, Karen Wang and Annabelle Aguirre.
