Financial Aid Office NEWS

Employees at Cuesta’s Financial Aid Office are working hard to make it easier for studentts to learn more about their financial options – and to also assist them in paying back the funds they have borrowed.

FA Office updates include:
For the second consecutive year, the department has been awarded an EdShare grant of $40,000. A competitive grant program sponsored by the California Student Aid Commission, the program assists colleges in implementing programs that help address debt management; educate borrowers on their loans, and prevent defaults on payments. Some initial EdShare money was used last April to sponsor Cuesta’s first Financial Literacy Fair, dubbed “Show Me the Money.” Expected to draw about 75 students, more than 150 persons attended – indicative of a strong interest in learning about financial aid, credit and money management.

Another literacy fair is scheduled for April 15 and 16, at both the San Luis Obispo and North County campuses.

Cuesta financial aid employees are also working on reducing Cuesta’s 7.5 percent student default rate (still one of the lowest in California). To this end, they are now enhancing exit counseling, as well as making more direct contact with defaulted and/or delinquent borrowers via personal phone calls and letters. On-line services are also being made available to these borrowers.

Financial Aid Office personnel are continuing to conduct several loan workshops in order to help students understand and then complete the financial aid process. Evaluations of these workshops show that most attendees prefer to receive this information in a workshop environment versus having to access the data online.