Provost Communication / Financial Aid Update: Tuesday, September 8, 2026

Dear Colleagues: 

New federal financial aid regulations have affected our students, and the services our financial aid office provides our students. Please see the following important message from Jenni Robinson Reisinger, Interim Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management & University Registrar:

2026-27 Financial Aid FYIs from Enrollment Management

Federal financial aid regulations have changed how aid is calculated, awarded, and disbursed, and the impacts are real. Campuses nationwide are navigating these updates while federal guidance and related system updates continue to evolve.

At the same time, our Financial Aid Office is operating with reduced staffing. Recruitment efforts and other measures are underway, but students are currently experiencing longer wait times, high call volumes, and slower responses to general questions. The current level of service is not the new baseline, and we are actively working to fill vacancies. 

Given this context, the team is prioritizing tasks that directly get financial aid to students: verification, packaging, and disbursement. This means general inquiries may take longer. The Financial Aid team continues to do important and complex work on behalf of students, adapting to changing requirements and processing individual student files to ensure aid is delivered as quickly as possible.

Some students are also waiting on financial aid because additional documentation or action is needed before their aid can be finalized. We recognize that longer response times can make it more difficult for students to understand what is needed and resolve those issues quickly. We are working to improve that communication. 

How faculty and staff can help:

Even with the current wait times, please continue directing financial aid questions to the Financial Aid Office rather than trying to interpret a student’s aid eligibility.

It is important that students speak with Financial Aid before dropping a course, withdrawing, or changing their unit load. Under new federal requirements, some enrollment changes will have financial aid consequences that differ from prior years.

This is especially true after the add/drop and financial aid freeze deadline, which was extended to Today, Tuesday, September 8, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. PDT. If you are working with a student who is considering an enrollment change, please encourage them to contact Financial Aid before making any changes whenever possible.

Thank you for helping students navigate this complex period and for supporting our Financial Aid colleagues through an unusually challenging time.

Thank you,

Jenni Robinson Reisinger
Interim Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management & University Registrar