By Veronica Hurtado
Starting July 2012 the school’s financial aid office will stop administering the Ability to Benefit test for students who do not have a high school diploma or GED.
Students without a diploma or GED seeking financial aid had to the option of taking the ATB exam or waiting to complete at least six units toward a college degree or certificate to qualify for aid. Under the new July 2012 regulation, this option will be gone.
After numerous attempts to talk to the school’s financial aid office to gather details on how the new legislation will affect ELAC students, financial aid refused to comment to Campus News. In an email Suzzette Morales-Guerra, Matriculation Coordinator, said that the school’s financial aid office is only following new financial aid legislation. She and Gavino Herrera, Vice-President of Financial Aid, refused to talk about the elimination of the ATB.
Although, Oscar Valeriano, Vice-President of Student Affairs, said “Students who come to ELAC that are not academically prepared or need high school equivalency will be greatly affected by this elimination of the Ability to Benefit test. They will no longer qualify for financial aid.”
By July, students will have to demonstrate they have a high school diploma or GED in order to get financial aid. Valeriano recommends to take advantage of the non-credit courses, since they are free and could increase their academic success rate. “I encourage students to take advantage of non-credit courses to complete their academic goals,” said Valeriano.
Which that’s a lie I called didn’t hear anything about taking a test to qualify for any type of help they said sorry can’t help you