Northridge Head Calls for Review on Financial Aid

Responding to complaints by athletes about their living conditions, Cal State Northridge President Blenda J. Wilson has called for a review of the university’s financial aid office.

A senior aid officer will begin working Monday with individual athletes who chose to appeal their financial awards.

In a series of meetings with athletes and athletic program officials this week, school administrators had focused on the feasibility of instituting a one-meal-per-day “training table” for athletes. The school’s football team staged a one-day boycott of practice Monday to protest the lack of a meal plan.

The training table idea, Ronald Kopita, CSUN vice president of student affairs, said Friday, “was a nightmare as far as NCAA compliance” and is no longer under consideration.

Northridge announced the formation of a financial aid review committee that will consist of advisory members, representatives of the Athletic Congress and off-campus experts in NCAA financial aid. The committee is to report to Wilson by the end of November.

Vu Tran, a senior financial aid officer, will begin poring over award packages with athletes next week.