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. Got a story idea? Give us a call at 962-3229. ^ ^ I ■ A ■ ■ ■ f -t DUWl MuJic, fOOD, /MACKJ, BEEIt, a Bovlimg Every Monday niglit from 9 p.m. till midnight bowl all you want for $8.00. Bring in this coupon for a free pair of rental shoes, limit one per player per visit. Cardunal Lanes 3907 Shipyard Blvd 799-3023 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.”