COLUMN: Wanted: User-friendly financial aid

From Michelle Weinberg's, "For Every Action," Fall '99 From Michelle Weinberg's, "For Every Action," Fall '99When I chose to attend the University of Pennsylvania, I did so with the understanding that I would have to borrow a hefty amount of money to pay for my education. That was a consequence I was ready to accept in exchange for my Penn education. I have had a miserable time dealing with SFS since freshman year, and I am not alone. Many of my friends on financial aid have expressed similar complaints. For example, most agree that it is virtually impossible to contact a financial aid counselor over the phone. The SFS World Wide Web site suggests that students should check their financial aid status on Penn InTouch before calling. However, during the late summer months, when students typically have the most questions, many students are away from school and do not have Internet access. Leaving messages for your financial aid advisor is also futile, since they rarely return calls. As a result, some students have decided that the small amount of loans they would have received through SFS is not worth the hassle. Other students complain about receiving two bills every summer -- the first for the complete cost of tuition, room and board and the second adjusted for financial aid. The practice has caused more than one student to make a frantic rush for the phone to make sure all their paperwork has been processed. Of course, that can be a futile gesture because of the difficulty of getting through to SFS by phone. My father, for example, has never actually gotten through to a financial aid officer over the phone in four years of trying. The easiest way we've discovered to get their attention is to send an e-mail to SFS requesting a phone call in return. Every year, my family applies for a re-evaluation of my financial aid package because SFS refuses to release details of the method and reasoning Penn uses to determine my financial aid package. If they would show us those details, it would eliminate many of the questions and frustrations that we have about a process that rarely seems to reflect what we can actually afford. SFS deals with the financial stability of many people: students, their parents, siblings, stepfamilies, and any other dependents are all affected by financial aid decisions. SFS should adopt a policy of full disclosure to students on financial aid. Additionally, SFS needs to hire more financial aid counselors and increase their availability to students. On Penn's campus, stores, dining halls and athletic facilities -- services provided for students, like SFS -- all run on a student schedule. But SFS doesn't, staying open only from 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., hours that are inconvenient for many students. Furthermore, concerned parents from different time zones often find these limited hours difficult. The University has an obligation to ensure that SFS has the time and resources to handle their workload. Currently, they either do not have enough staff or operate under an inefficient system. Either way, SFS needs to be restructured. Then there are the little things -- things that often end up mattering more than a little. This fall, I applied for a student loan from a Midwestern bank. All SFS needed to do was fill out a section of the application stating that I owed Penn money and forward the entire packet to the lender. While SFS did indeed manage to fill out the section, they did not forward the entire packet we had sent them. One of the documents that was removed from the packet nearly caused my loan application to be rejected. A small mistake with big consequences. Students on financial aid already have enough to worry about -- thousands of dollars in loans and balancing work-study jobs with school responsibilities. They should not have the added burden of dealing with the inefficiency of Student Financial Services. An office that plays such a large role in the lives of so many students must make more of an effort to be user-friendly and efficient.