The first thing Matt Stokan, director of financial aid, wants students to know is that the financial aid office is there to help students. Oct. 1 was the sign up day for financial aid for the 2019-20 school year. 

“We are here to help students and you would be surprised with the amount of students we are able to help,” Stokan said. 

A lot of students have financial situations that may prevent them from paying their bill and Stokan believes if more students came up, more students could be helped. 

“If financial issues are a problem and an impediment, come talk to us,” Stokan said. “I can’t promise we solve every problem but I promise we’ll do our darn best to solve every problem.” 

Problems have occurred in recent years due to federal government cuts to funding higher education. Students used to be able to go through the Federal Perkins Loan but as of June 2018 that is no longer an option Stokan said. 

“Once they abolished [The Federal Perkins Loan] it took about $4,000 additional dollars out of that student’s hand,” Stokan said. “Now that gap they need to pay to come to school has gotten bigger and that’s just one less resource for them to use.” 

The financial aid news is not all bad however, the Pell grant has gone up $100 from last year and will go up again next year along with other federal grant programs. 

Additionally, Stokan said that Waynesburg institution funds have gone up significantly. 

“Institutionally we have increased our institutional funds well over a million dollars this year,” Stokan said. 

Chancellor Timothy Thyreen, who is on the board of directors for PHEAA helped come up with more money for higher education. Unfortunately, there is a threat to cut funding from the state grant, leading to students borrowing more money. . Stokan wants students to know the Financial Aid office is open and the most important part for students is to walk in. 

“The problem is we need to know the student needs help,” said Stokan. “If the student drops out of school or decides they can’t come back to school or can’t enroll to the school for financial reasons.”