Part of the 16,000-letter mailing was assembled Friday in Beardshear's third floor conference room by admissions and student financial aid staffs, including Katharine Johnson Suski (far left, seated) and Chad Olson (handing off box), respective directors of the two offices. Photo by Christopher Gannon.
After several months of waiting, it was an all-hands-on-deck morning last Friday to assemble and mail financial aid award letters to about 16,000 first-year admitted students.
Iowa State's printing services team had the first 7,500 letters ready to go at 8 a.m., the second batch by 9:30 a.m. Envelope stuffing en masse began at 8:30 a.m. in the Beardshear Hall third-floor conference room and, with more than 35 financial aid and admissions employees fervently tackling the task in several locations -- and mascot Cy offering encouragement -- wrapped up before noon, said director of student financial aid Chad Olson.
"This was really an enrollment management effort. I'm so blessed to have such a great team, and admissions sending over a team to help was amazing," Olson said.
Up next
Olson said financial aid letters for incoming transfer students -- perhaps around 900 -- will be mailed by mid-May. The timing for sharing award packages with returning Iowa State students, which typically happens after the state Board of Regents sets tuition rates, is normal this year. Once spring semester is complete and those student records are transferred from the legacy system (ADIN) to Workday, aid offers will be processed for returning students and shared via Workday, likely in mid-June, Olson said.
Yes, there is an email copy
As the envelope stuff-orama was occurring April 26, Olson's team also was emailing award notifications to first-year admitted students and their parents.
"Like about half of universities, we send both," Olson said. "About 15 years ago, we stopped sending letters in the mail for two years -- and we heard from families. The emails get missed, so we went back to putting both in front of them."
A spring like no other
In a normal year, admitted first-year students would have received their financial aid offers from Iowa State in early February. A three-month delay in the release of a revised Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and problems at the U.S. Department of Education with processing FAFSA submissions this winter made it impossible for colleges and universities to make decisions about student aid packages.
Olson said his office received its first financial aid eligibility data from the Education department the second week in March, but it contained errors. Updates and corrections have arrived intermittently since then, including one early last week.
Olson said Iowa State normally receives FAFSA data on about 40,000 students during the 19-month FAFSA cycle; so far this year that number is about 33,000. Both first-year and returning students experienced problems completing the form, and his staff continues to contact students from both categories without a FAFSA record this spring, he said, because that data also guides university financial aid.
Related stories:
- Deadlines adjusted for delay in student financial aid data, March 7, 2024
- Financial aid team is prepared for changes with revamped FAFSA, Jan. 4, 2024
