THE Seahawk/August ZA^znnO
5
Wainwright, from page 1
service to him and to our university
and program,” Bradley-Doppes said.
“His decision to stay here at UNCW
speaks volumes for his leadership
and commitment to his team and
coaches.”
Wainwright, who begins his sev
enth season with the Seahawks this
fall, also spoke of Wilmington and
the UNCW students as reasons to
stay.
“Wilmington is a great place to
live,” said Wainwright. “My wife
and I love it here. This is home and
a tough place to leave. The people,
the fans, and the visions of leaders
for Wilmington are tough to give
up.”
“[The students of UNCW] are a
big part of my life. 1 believe our
basketball program has a good rela
tionship with the student body. This
is the best place to coach in our
league. They make Trask [Coli
seum] a wonderful place to coach.
1 saw 37,000 people at a concert at
the Alamodome, and 1 don’t know
if they made as much noise as our
crowd does here. Our students have
been great, and I hope they continue
to be.”
The student reaction to
Wainwright’s decision was also
positive.
“We were all hoping he wouldn’t
go, especially after last year's sea
son,” said Sophomore Sean
McAuliffe. “Coach Wainwright's
program has helped reestablish
school pride on-campus. Basketball
games are where we hang out.”
Wainwright’s decision to stay at
UNC-Wilmington has sparked a
preseason interest to the basketball
program. The buzz is positive
across campus, as many are looking
forward to the season home opener
November 27 against Bowling
Green State University.
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Aid, from page 1
aid) is not talking to student ac
counts and we are," Williams said.
“Student accounts knows when stu
dents are getting hnancial aid but
they still need to return their state
ment with "financial aid estimate’
written on it."
Williams said that the majority of
UNCW students he talked to who
had their classes cancelled did not
receive notification of their tuition
statement because their registered
address was incorrect.
“Students have the option of
changing their permanent address
listing through the UNCW web
site,” Assistant Registrar Bonnie
Howard said. "Students need to reg
ister their permanent address where
they want any tuition bill informa
tion sent."
Williams believes that a lot of the
problems that students face could be
avoided if they made themselves
more familiar with the financial aid
process.
“When [traditional] students first
come to the university they very
much expect their parents to handle
their financial aid," Williams said.
“That is a problem for us because
the law prohibits us from even tell-
mg parents about their child’s finan
cial aid unless the students signs a
waiver."
Section Hl-l of the UNCW Code
of Student Life outlines the rights
provided to students concerning
their educational records, under the
Family Educational Rights and Pri
vacy Act (FERPA). The section
state, “FERPA provides that a stu
dent may inspect his or her educa
tional records....FERPA also pro
vides that a student’s personally
identifiable information may not be
released to someone unless (1) the
student has given a proper consent
for disclosure or (2) provisions of
FERPA or federal regulations issued
pursuant to FERPA permit the infor
mation to be released without the
student’s consent.”
Williams said there is a transition
that takes place while a student is
in college as they gradually become
more independent and students gen
erally assume responsibility of their
financial aid issues when they be
come upperclassmen.
“One of the negative aspects of
this is that about 95% of our fresh
men apply for financial aid by Feb
ruary 1 and only about 10% of our
upperclassmen apply by February
1,” he said. “Unfortunately, that
means that because a junior a senior
has waited, the freshmen have been
given the grant money they could
have gotten. Once [the money] is
gone, it’s gone.”
Last year, the financial aid de
partment sent an e-mail to every stu
dent on campus inviting them to a
meeting where representatives
would help them fill out their Free
Application for Federal Student Aid
(FAFSA) forms. Only 20 students
showed up for the meeting.
"There is no interest, but part of
that is telling me that [the financial
aid department] is doing a good
job,” Williams said. “Students have
a lot of interest in financial aid if
they're not getting Iheir money."
Williams said UNCW students
miss out on numerous financial aid
opportunities. Only 2,000 students
apply for scholarships each year and
virtually all students who apply for
loans are eligible.
“Ninety-nine percent of students
who apply for the Federal Stafford
Loan are eligible," Williams said.
"Bill Gates would be eligible for a
Stafford Loan because there is no in
come requirements. Anyone can get
it unless they have defaulted on a
prior law, have an illegal drug con
viction or if their not making satis
factory progress on their degree”
The Financial Aid Office is al
ways especially busy the first few
weeks of each semester, yet Will
iams said that no student has waited
more than 15 or 20 minutes to see a
financial aid representative unless
he asked to see someone specific.
He said that wait times at sister
schools have been reported in excess
of two hours.
Williams acknowledged that
there have been a lot of problems
with the phone system in recent
years and a new computerized phone
system is curbing these problems.
The new system directs calls and
monitors to amount of time a caller
has been waiting.
“We have one of the highest call
volumes at the university and the av
erage call is now answered in under
20 seconds,” Williams said.
The department also imple
mented a document imaging system
that converts paper files into com
puter files. Eventually, all faxes
sent to the university will go di
rectly into the computer system,
eliminating recent problems the of
fice has had with their fax machine.
Williams said he feels that the
federal financial aid process, which
has not be significantly altered since
the 1950’s, is outdated and too com
plicated. He believes the system
should be simplified and that stu
dents should only have to apply for
financial aid once during their time
at a university.
“I do not believe the process will
change unless students want it to,”
Williams said. “Students are a pow
erful lobby in Congress and I think
changes could be made through stu
dent effort.”