SU Students await refunds amid delays in PA State Grant roll-out

As Shippensburg University nears the end of the fall 2024 semester, some students are still waiting for their financial aid to come through.

The PA State Grant, administered by the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA), has seen several rounds of delays. As of Monday morning, 456 students have yet to receive their grant money.

Last year, the federal Department of Education planned to overhaul the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, commonly known as FAFSA. PHEAA in turn planned for a modernization of its aging system by building a new portal called GrantUs.

The FAFSA had its own issues and delays, which meant many students had trouble applying for federal student aid, which includes the Pell Grant and federal student loans.

The combination of the new FAFSA system and PHEAA’s upgrade caused delays that meant many students were not able to see their PA State Grant awards for months.

At President’s Hour on Oct. 24, SU President Charles Patterson said that “accurate distributions” were expected by the end of October. Students have been given other estimates too, ranging from mid-September to the end of November.

For the 2024-25 school year, the maximum PA State Grant award is $5,260. That is split between fall and spring semesters, meaning that students are potentially missing up to $2,630 of their financial aid package.

The SU Financial Aid Office is working to help students navigate the process, and encourage students to reach out with any questions about the PA State Grant or the GrantUs website, according to Megan Silverstrim, SU director of Communication and Marketing.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) is aware of the delays and has “provided support and guidance to PHEAA as the agency has worked to resolve the delay over the past several months,” according to PDE Press Secretary Erin James.

PDE has urged PHEAA to communicate clearly with students and financial aid offices about these delays, according to James. But some students feel they have been left in the dark.

Megan Sawka, a junior Communications, Journalism, and Media major, has felt frustrated by the way things have been handled. On top of classwork and extracurriculars, she does not want to have to worry about her financial aid status.

“Money has been a struggle for me in the last few months and having a debt that I have no clue if I have to pay or what is not helping,” Sawka said.

On Monday, Sawka tried to call the Financial Aid Office, but was left on hold for 10 minutes before hanging up. Her award has appeared and disappeared on the GrantUs portal and on SU’s own myShip platform, adding to the confusion and frustration.

“I don’t just have extra money laying around to pay this if they decide I’m not getting a grant anymore,” Sawka said.

With less than a month left in the semester, university officials say they are working to get students their money.

“Through a daily updating effort, we apply the funds to students’ accounts as soon as we are notified and can verify with PHEAA that they are available,” Silverstrim said.