With the recent budget cuts going on, students at Fresno City College are scrambling to find a way to pay for their education. In that scramble, the students are seeking refuge with the Financial Aid office on campus.

Kira Tippins, Director of Financial Aid, says that over 60 percent of FCC’s population is at least receiving a Board of Governors (BOG) fee waiver that pays the full cost of tuition.  The cuts and suggestions made by California Governor, Jerry Brown, could greatly impact those students.

The most significant change that BOG fee waiver recipients will face is the increase in the minimum need required.

When the students fill out their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), they get an Expected Family Contribution (EFC) number. Factors like the size of the household, the income level of the student and parents, the amount of taxes paid, the parents’ age determine the EFC number.

“That EFC is then used against the cost of attendance,” said Tippins.

The cost of attendance depends on if the student is going to school full-time or part-time, lives with parents or on their own and other expenses going toward their education. So, the need is calculated by subtracting the EFC from the cost of attendance.

Before, the students had to show at least $1 of need. Now they won’t receive a BOG fee waiver unless their need is $1,104 or greater. According to Tippins, this change was made because there were many students in the state who didn’t have need, didn’t keep up with their GPA, were dropping classes and still receiving the waiver.

Another change that was not anticipated but impacts all Cal Grant recipients is the reduction. Using his line-item veto power, Gov. Brown has made a 5 percent cut to all Cal Grants across the state.

He has also sent a recommendation to increase the minimum GPA requirement for students from a 2.0 to a 2.75 to be eligible for Cal Grant awards. The change is not final yet but the impact of this measure could be difficult for students to face.

“If the 2.0 requirement went into effect today, about 40 percent of the BOG recipients would lose their eligibility,” said Tippins.

This would drop the percentage of FCC students receiving aid to 20 percent.

“Maybe with that reduction the GPA increase won’t go through but we’re really not sure,” said Tippins. “We’re just kind of waiting on them at this point”.

The other thing that is significantly changing this year is the maximum lifetime eligibility for a Pell Grant. Since 2008 college students had 9 full years to use their Pell Grant award to complete the program. Starting this year students are left with 6 full years. There is also no appeal process after they run out of money. To avoid that, Tippins suggests that students take their core classes instead of the electives first.

In order to avoid their financial aid being taken away for any reason, students should keep themselves informed and up to date on the ever-changing financial aid policies.

“I always recommend to the students I meet – go to our website and read this,” said Tippins. “Everybody says ‘you don’t give us the information to succeed’. We do. The students are not going out to get it. We put it out there; you have to meet us half way”.

For more information on the changes in financial aid this year go to http://www.fresnocitycollege.edu/financialaid