Money 101: College Aid Is Available

Marco J. De La Garza has money to give away. The trouble is, he can’t find enough takers.

That gnaws at the affable De La Garza, who oversees student financial aid programs at Pierce College in Woodland Hills. He would like students to receive all the assistance they are entitled to so that they can spend more time hitting the books and less time covering expenses with dead-end jobs.

But like many financial aid administrators, particularly at two-year community colleges like Pierce, De La Garza finds that his mission is complicated by widespread misconceptions that keep students from applying for assistance.

De La Garza, 41, a Mexican immigrant who grew up poor and relied on aid to make his own way through college, is a man of many mantras. One of his favorites: “Money is here. You just have to come in and apply.”

And when students say they don’t need assistance, De La Garza offers a stock reply: “You don’t need money?”

These days, De La Garza and his counterparts around the state are stepping up efforts to deliver their message to students and their parents. The application period for the main round of Cal Grant aid -- state grants for low- and moderate-income college students -- begins Jan. 1 and runs until March 2 for the school year beginning next fall. Many schools set similar deadlines for applying for other kinds of financial aid.

But even as the cost of tuition rises, and with the U.S. Department of Education expected to tighten standards for Pell grants for needy students, one of the biggest issues remains the number of people who don’t take advantage of available assistance.

According to a national study released in October by the American Council on Education, 1.7 million low- and moderate-income college students failed to apply for financial aid in 1999-2000. In addition, only one out of every three community college students applied for aid, a far lower ratio than for any of the categories of four-year schools.

Kenneth E. Redd, director of research and policy analysis for the National Assn. of Student Financial Aid Administrators, said many low- and moderate-income students don’t seek aid because they “have this perception that in order to get financial aid, they have to be an A or B student or they have to be an athlete or they have to play a musical instrument. They don’t realize that the vast majority of financial aid is based just on whether students have financial need.”

De La Garza said that in his 12 years in the college financial aid field, he has heard a litany of reasons from students about why they don’t seek the aid.

Some students tell him their families earn too much money to qualify. But financial aid, De La Garza is fond of pointing out, is available for everyone.

He says that students from high-income families are eligible for low-interest loans, if nothing else. The annually adjusted interest rate on Stafford student loans, the most common form of student borrowing, currently is 3.37%. “If you’re going to put books on a credit card, you’re paying a lot more interest than you would with financial aid,” De La Garza said.

At the other end of the income spectrum, De La Garza says, students often harbor the misconception that all types of aid need to be paid back, and they fear that they won’t be able to make the payments. That, he explains, is just flat wrong. For instance, the federal Pell Grant program provides low-income students up to $4,050 a year, and none of it needs to be paid back.

Likewise, the state’s Cal Grant program provides low- and moderate-income community college students with up to $1,551 annually. And the amount is higher for students at four-year colleges, especially those attending private schools, who are eligible for $8,322 annually. Cal Grants are available for California students attending college in the state.

Even so, every year since the Cal Grant program was expanded into an entitlement program in 2001, it has returned money to the state’s general fund because it couldn’t find enough takers among traditional college-age students.

De La Garza said it was easier to persuade low-income students to apply for the state’s community college attendance fee waivers, known as Board of Governors waivers. The main reason for the popularity of that program, he said, is the simplicity of the 1 1/2 -page application form. In all, about one-quarter of the state’s 2.55 million community college students last year received the waivers.

By contrast, the main financial aid application form for students around the country -- the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA -- is a detailed eight page document that requires applicants to fill in 103 lines of information. It is required for Cal Grants, Pell grants and other aid.

Jessica Barragan, a 25-year-old single mother who is studying nursing at Pierce, said she has eased her financial burdens with a Board of Governors waiver, grants and, for the first time this year, student loans. She initially didn’t expect to receive much aid, particularly loans, because of her bad credit record and history of low income and welfare dependence.

“I thought I wouldn’t qualify, or that it was really tough to get a loan, and it’s not,” Barragan said. “I was surprised to see ... how much help we can get.”

De La Garza knows from personal experience what financial aid and recruitment can do to propel a student into college. Born in Monterrey, Mexico, he came to Los Angeles at age 10 and grew up near Belmont High School, which he later attended. De La Garza said he wouldn’t have considered a college education if it hadn’t been for a field trip he took to Cal State Northridge as a high school senior, the first time he ever left the neighborhoods in and around downtown Los Angeles.

His college expenses while studying for a bachelor’s degree at Northridge were fully covered by state and federal grants and a campus job. After graduating, De La Garza continued to work on campus, eventually moving up through the ranks to the No. 3 job in the financial aid department, before taking the head financial aid job at Pierce in 2002. He also earned a master’s degree in education administration at Northridge.

Today, De La Garza and his staff of 17 regular employees and 30 work-study students operate out of the newly opened college services building. The office supplies aid to 8,000 of Pierce College’s 17,000 students, but De La Garza hopes to reach even more in coming years.

The financial aid field holds his interest, De La Garza said, because of his satisfaction in providing a service that helps keep students in school and focused on their studies. With financial aid, he said, many students no longer have to worry that they “have to work more hours to pay for a book” or other educational expenses. “The benefit is realized right there on the spot.”

“It’s the greatest time of your life, to be in college, and money should not be an issue,” he said.