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Students encounter financial aid issues due to shutdown

The shutdown may be over for now, but the Middle Georgia State financial aid office and students still had some difficulties with the aid process this semester

MACON, Ga. — Applying for financial aid is a process and most students at Middle Georgia State University do it every school year. According to financial aid assistant director Gloria Wonnum, about 88 or 89 percent of the student population.

Wonnum says the shutdown mostly affected students who were pulled for federal verification. "For instance, with the tax transcript issues students may have, we can now accept actual hard copies of tax returns rather than having them go through the IRS."

One of the students who did get pulled for federal verification is Chris Trawick.

He says because he couldn't get tax documents from the IRS to the financial aid office on time, his account and financial aid were placed on hold.

"They actually kicked me out of my classes, but it was because one of my documents didn't process, but with a couple of phone calls, we got it worked out," he says.

Trawick was able to get back into class, but says he learned to get his financial aid together sooner because you never know when it can turn into a setback. "Now, with me getting on top of my classes missed, I feel like I need to go ahead and look forward and look into my financial aid for next semester, so I'm gonna go ahead and get FAFSA out the way."

And Wonnum says that's the best thing to do. "We always recommend applying early because that way, you can always solve problems before the semester starts."

The federal deadline to apply for financial aid is March 1st, and with the government reopening for the next few weeks, now would be the time to get those documents in order for the FAFSA.

To apply for student aid, you can do so here.

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