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September 26, 2008, 11:18 AM ET
Software Problem Delays $4-Million in Aid to Calif. Community-College Students
About $4-million in student aid for some 15,000 students attending four California community colleges has been held up by problems with new student-services software.
The Contra Costa Times reports that the Peralta Community College District, based in Oakland, has been unable to process aid checks because of a difficulty in adapting the software to the needs of a multi-campus system. The district comprises Berkeley City College, the College of Alameda, Laney College, and Merritt College.
With some angry students walking out of classes to protest the delays, administrators have scrambled to offer fee waivers, vouchers for textbooks, and even short-term loans. But many students use the aid money for expenses that vouchers can’t cover, like rent and food. College officials told the Times that they did not know how many students, if any, had been forced to drop out because of the aid problem.
The interim vice president for student services at Berkeley City College, Gordon Poon, told The Daily Californian, the student newspaper at the University of California at Berkeley, that the software problem had been compounded by a hiring freeze related to the state’s budget impasse. “We are switching the system and freezing the staff at the same time,” he said. —Lawrence Biemiller
Categories: Student-Life
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