Financial Aid Office to Reduce Funding for Late Applicants

The Financial Aid Office will penalize upperclassmen who file late aid applications this year by reducing the amount of their grants, Martha C. Lyman, acting director of financial aid, said yesterday.

Lyman said the office has not yet determined the exact amount of the penalty or the date after which it will be imposed. The last section of the three-part application is due in the office by May 1, and Lyman said applications filed after that date may be subject to the penalty.

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Students whose grants are reduced will receive larger self-help packages consisting of a loan and an employment opportunity, she said.

Last year the office penalized about 50 upperclassmen who had not turned in their applications by mid-August. Those students received letters in late July warning them that the office would impose a penalty if they did not file applications within two weeks.

This year the office has already notified all students on financial aid that late applications will be subject to the penalty. Lyman said that since the office has announced the penalty in advance, they will probably be stricter about imposing it this year.

"We have to be somewhat flexible, but unless we know how many applicants there are, we don't really know how to divide up the money," she said, adding, "We have never run out of money yet, but students think it is a bottomless pit, and it's not."