NHCTC-Laconia: financial aid flap

The flap over the administration of financial aid that has rocked the state's community technical college system will have no significant impact on the Laconia campus, according to interim president Don Morrissey. "I am confident that there are no major issues at the Laconia campus," he said yesterday.

Although the policies for administering financial aid apply throughout the system, each campus is responsible for awarding, documenting and monitoring financial aid to its own students, which consists of federal funds. Retirements and resignations coinciding with a hiring freeze crippled the financial aid departments at the Manchester and Stratham campuses, where too few inexperienced personnel apparently found themselves responsible for too much work. Allegations that funds were misappropriated at the Stratham campus prompted a thorough investigation and audit of the administration of financial aid at all seven campuses by Kerstein, Coren, Lichtenstein and Finkel, a law firm in Wellesley, Massachusetts, could not account for $879,000.

Morrissey explained that the problems arose from shortcomings in determining eligibility for financial aid, documenting courses of study, monitoring student attendance and performance and returning federal funds when students withdrew prematurely. The United States Department of Education has advised the system that if the problems are not overcome, it could face fines and penalties, including the loss of federal funds.

Morrissey said that the process of determining eligibility, awarding aid and tracking progress requires close supervision and communication between the administration, registrar and faculty. "It is a complex," he said, "but we must account for the use of federal funds." At Laconia, a cross-section of records were checked in the course of the annual audit, but Morrissey said that since the problems emerged the college has undertaken a more rigorous audit of its financial aid records. He said that some procedural issues were found, but "there were no major glitches."

Meanwhile, Morrissey said that a committee, including the financial aid officers from all seven campuses, has been developing a fresh set of policies and procedures for the past year and is scheduled to present its recommendations soon. "The procedures will change across the board," he said, adding that the Commissioner, Bill Simonton. has assured the separate colleges that the Information Technology department of the system will provide them with assistance in introducing and operating the new procedures.