New Verification System Arrives at CSU’s Financial Aid Office

CSU’s new system makes it easier to complete the verification process to receive aid.

Tristan Cox, Staff Writer

Many students use financial aid to pay for their college education. When receiving aid from Columbus State University’s Financial Aid Office, most students fill out their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Occasionally, students are selected for verification. This process involves printing and filling out additional forms that need to be submitted.

On April 17, CSU introduced a new online system, called Campus Logic, for finding and submitting forms required for verification that is meant to streamline the process of applying for aid.

The new online system is meant to make it easier than it used to be to apply for financial aid and ensure students receive their awards on time. Kamelah Warren, a financial aid counselor, says “the new system speeds up the verification process and makes it easier for students and the university to submit and process documents.” The new systems many features also serve to correct some major issues that students have had involving the Financial Aid office in the past.

In the past, many students have had issues receiving their scholarships and have even been delayed from attending classes a semester due to them being unaware that additional paperwork was required and that they were selected for verification.

Chasidy Lee, a freshman, has been delayed from taking classes due to the verification process. After applying for financial aid, she was selected by the financial aid office for verification but was unaware. By the time she was made aware that she had to submit forms for verification, it was past their due date. Lee was delayed from taking classes that semester.

Lee says when she asked a representative why she wasn’t made aware of the form, “I was told that the department must not have communicated it to me.” This mistake caused her to have delay her college career.

A similar occurrence happened with student Sophie Sorenson. Sorenson applied for financial aid and was under the impression that she had completed all forms. She was selected for verification and submitted her required forms on time. However, Sorenson never received notification of her award.

When she called the financial aid office for help she was told her she hadn’t been awarded yet because she hadn’t submitted her verification forms on time.

“I was able to prove that I submitted the forms on time,” says Sorenson, “but due to the long processing time I wasn’t able to get financial aid.”

She had to take out a PLUS loan and borrow money from family in order to pay for school that semester. The process left her feeling inconvenienced and frustrated, a feeling that other students who have had similar experiences can identify with.

To resolve issues, CSU has upgraded to a brand new system for dealing with accessing and submitting verification forms. This new online system notifies students of needed forms and makes the verification process much easier for both students and the financial aid office.

“It’s very easy to access,” says Warren, “it’s located under the verification portal on MyCSU. The process is very self explanatory and comes with step by step instructions.”

Warren notes the improved ease at which students are notified of required forms, then able to find and submit them. If a student has been selected for verification in the past, they will not have to worry about resubmitting old forms because Warren says those files are already located within the database. Students will also be able to submit documents by taking pictures of them and uploading them to the portal.

Warren states that since they’ve begun using the new system, “processing times are down. Forms that used to take about six weeks to process now take maybe three weeks if not less to process.”

This new system provides ease in accessing and submitting the forms, paired with the decreased processing time. It makes applying for and receiving financial aid if a student has been selected for verification an easier process than it was before.