The Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships (OFAS) resumed virtual appointments after continued 2024-2025 financial aid offer delays on Oct. 28.
As a result of financial aid delays, OFAS extended its initial fee deadline from Sept. 16 to Oct. 18 for financial aid recipients in an email, stating recipients would not lose their classes or housing as a result.
OFAS released an email on Oct. 27 stating that students with questions about their financial aid status could set up online appointments with staff members. The office will release new virtual appointment slots for the following week at 5 p.m. each Friday.
In addition to online appointments, OFAS customer service hours — including phone and in-person appointments — will continue from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday.
From September to early October, students visiting OFAS experienced longer wait times due to the office receiving a higher number of calls after financial award letters were delayed in August.
Marissa Martine is a third year psychological science major who called the Office of Financial Aid multiple times before losing connection.
“The longest I waited for that was almost three hours. It was kind of frustrating because sometimes I’ll also lose connection. I left a callback feature one time but I didn’t get a call back,” Marine told New University.
Some students who phoned the financial aid office reported experiencing extended call queues of multiple hours and not receiving callbacks from OFAS’s callback feature, which contacts students after some time.
UCI undergraduate alumnus and current UCI post-baccalaureate student Jasmine Vargas spoke about the impact of financial aid delays on students.
“When I was an undergrad, I depended on that financial aid for everything: my apartment, my tuition, everything that had to do with being on campus since my parents couldn’t afford [any] of that,” Vargas told New University. “If I was in that situation and if it wasn’t covered [by financial aid], personally I would’ve had to drop out.”
OFAS released a statement on Sept. 3 to address persistent delays of student aid packages, stating they would “assist with any questions or concerns.”
Jenna Thai, a first year biological sciences major, said she paid the extended deadline fee in October.
“I ended up paying $1,000 more than what I was expecting because of the financial aid,” Thai said. “It was honestly stressing me out because a lot of my friends and I were not getting our financial aid and the extended deadline was also coming up as well.”
The UC Irvine Grant is issued by the Regents of the University of California and the State of California. The grant is automatically awarded to undergraduate students based on financial need and what they submit on their Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or California Dream Act application forms.
The UCI Grant is now split into three grant categories: UCI Grant, USHIP and Anteater Grant. Students will receive one or multiple grants depending on their financial aid eligibility.
OFAS began experiencing delays after FAFSA issued a new form that was pushed back to late December 2023.
Under the new FAFSA Simplification Act, the 2024-2025 FAFSA form replaced the Expected Family Contribution with the Student Aid Index (SAI) to determine student eligibility for Federal Pell Grants and expanded grant aid recipients.
Colleges received students’ financial information in March instead of the usual period in January due to a miscalculation of SAI tables to account for inflation.
OFAS used an alternative method to disburse student refunds, initially scheduled on Sept. 19, after experiencing “ongoing system challenges” according to an email sent on Sept. 20. They said students could expect refunds in a week but also longer delays because of bank processing and mail times.
Maria Diaz, first-year criminology major, completed her FAFSA form during her senior year of high school. Diaz had to consider her options between different schools and the possibility of living on campus.
“I [didn’t] want to choose a school and [have it] cost a lot and my parents have to deal with that.” Diaz told New University. “It was stressful having to deal with that and then [decided on] commuting or living there.”
In September, OFAS extended its hours over several weekends from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to assist UCI students with financial aid delays in disbursements and aid award letters.
Currently, OFAS is working to fix ongoing issues with its online system that provides financial aid notifications and award letters.
“I think it was just mostly a bad circumstance. I think during a regular school year, if they didn’t have all these changes to the system, it would have flowed a lot more smoothly, more people got the financial aid on time and stuff like that. So I feel like they’re doing the best they can with the manpower that they have as of right now,” Thai said.
More information can be found at https://www.ofas.uci.edu/.
Katherine Nava is a News Staff Writer. She can be reached at navakl@uci.edu.