Editorial: CMU policy unfair to non-traditional students

According to a new federal financial aid policy, students who have not passed at least 67 percent of their classes are subject to a 30-day hold placed on their accounts, delaying disbursement. CMU enforces a less forgiving policy, placing the 30-day hold on students who have not passed 75 percent of their classes.

This semester, 984 CMU students were burdened by this hold, in an attempt to weed out “cash in, drop out” students, or students who enroll in classes to receive financial aid money, only to drop the classes later. These students abuse the financial aid system.

But for non-traditional students making a return to campus, this hold can be the difference between staying in school and being forced back into the workforce.

Non-traditional students engage in a balancing act of life. A full class load doesn’t leave a lot of time for a full-time job, especially when you have kids. Non-trads rely on this money to support themselves and their families while they are in school. These students are choosing to return to school and complete their education—how can they do that if the money isn’t there to supplement their lack of a full-time job?

To solve this problem, a policy must be made to individually evaluate each student with a hold. While some students may be cashing in and dropping out, others are banking on disbursement to feed their families. A distinction must be made between the two.

There is a method to get these holds removed, but the process is not well-known or publicized by the financial aid office.

These checks are the difference between 50 cents and 5,000 dollars—the difference between happy and hungry children, paid and unpaid bills. Non-trads can’t afford to wait 30-days for their money—their life balance depends on it.

Categorised in: Opinions

This post was written by critedev