While students and families are working to make ends meet to pay the Spring Semester tuition bill, Wendi Beatty also is having problems -- as she has had in the past -- receiving her financial aid checks.

Beatty (junior-secondary education) doesn't blame her lack of funds on the University, but rather the state and federal government.

"My freshman year, I received the Paul Douglas Teacher's Scholarship for $2,500 each semester," Beatty said. "I had problems because I was receiving student loans that I had to pay back before I could receive the scholarship. Everything was held up because I could not get my scholarship money until I got a letter saying that I paid back my student loan."

During her sophomore year, Beatty had the money there but she could not get to it because the federal government needed to balance its budget before the check could be processed.

And when the money is held up, students have to struggle to pay tuition and other expenses.

"It gets really embarassing when you can't even pay your own 35 cent phone bill or pay to do your own laundry," Beatty said. "I ended up having to borrow money from my parents in order to pay my bills."

Beatty added that the Office of Student Aid does what it can with what it has.

"The Office of Student Aid does a really good job with the money when they get it," Beatty said. "They always have my money credited to my account within two days after they receive the checks. It is merely a matter of their getting the money."

Anna Griswold, vice president for student and financial aid, explained that student financial aid is subtracted from each billing by the Bursar's Office.

"In a few instances, the aid a student receives is more than what their bill is," Griswold said. "The extra money, in the form of a refund check, can then be used to pay for books or apartment rent."

One University accountant noted that refund checks are common for students to receive at this time of year.

"There are practically 101 different things that a student can do in order to get a refund check," said Rob Hippo, an accountant with the Bursar's Office. "Any student who has an excess of money in their account is eligible for a refund check. This money could be from overpayments, dropping credits or a new financial aid source."

Even though the Bursar's Office writes about 1,000 to 1,500 checks a day at the beginning of a semester, students can pick up their checks anytime during the semester.

"All students have to do is come to the office with their ID and we can process the check right away," Hippo said.

But when funds are held up by the state, students end up digging into their own pockets.

"Now this year, I could not get to my money because the state of Pennsylvania had no budget and I could not get my check until it was processed from the federal budget to the state treasury," Beatty said. "I finally received my last check on Nov. 15 and cashed it on the same day."

Griswold agreed that students often run into problems with their aid, but the financial aid office tries to intervene and let the Bursar's Office know that there is aid coming.

"We encourage students to mark on their bill if they expect student aid so we can let the Bursar's Office know about it," she said.

Beatty was told that the financial aid checks were supposed to be in by the end of September or beginning of October at the latest, but it has yet to occur in the three years she has been here, she said.

"When the state has budget problems, things can be held up," Griswold added.