Financial aid unfairly denied for UCLA Extension programs

Whitcomb is a UCLA Extension student.

By Erin Whitcomb

Students are in an uproar after receiving notice that federal
financial aid for many UCLA Extension certificate programs has been
canceled. Many students at UCLA Extension, a non-profit continuing
education institute, have just found out that the financial aid for
their program of study has been terminated and the effects will be
felt immediately.

A letter dating from late February was sent to all UCLA
Extension students, informing the students, who were part of 28 of
the over 100 certificate programs offered, that their federal
financial aid was to “cease immediately.”

The decision was said to be “an unanticipated change
regarding UCLA Extension certificate program eligibility for
Federal Pell Grant and Stafford Loan Programs.” This was
based upon “recent guidance and regulation clarification from
the U.S. Department of Education.”

Saddened and enraged by this, I called a financial aid officer
at the extension for further explanation and found out what I could
of the whole story.

I was told that the U.S. Department of Education reviewed the
programs and felt that they did not have enough
“content” to warrant financial aid, and that most of
the classes offered were not transferable for credit toward a
bachelor’s degree. In this conversation, I was told that
perhaps the financial aid never should have been approved in the
first place.

Now the students are asking, who is to blame? Well that could
fall on a lot of shoulders in this situation. I must play
devil’s advocate for the moment and say that on the one hand,
I can understand the action taken by the DOE from their overall
view of the programs. Yet being in a certificate program myself, I
must say the quality of education I am receiving in my program and
the “content” of it is definitely of a higher standard
than most institutes of continuing education or higher
learning.

In my history as a student, I have been to a few different
schools within California, including one technical school. The
technical school I attended was also considered a continuing
education institute and it offered full federally-funded financial
aid to its students. I have found the classes at UCLA Extension to
be not only more challenging but higher in content as well.

After asking my classmates their opinion on this matter, the
common sentiment was that the DOE is sending a message clearly
stating that people’s educations are not equal.

I feel that if the DOE were to delve into this matter further
and take the time to truly review the full content of each program
and its merit for the student, it would see the validity of
financial aid. This recent turn of events leaves a lot of UCLA
Extension students out in the proverbial cold.

Some of the certificate programs that were cut included
accounting, advertising, public relations, computer graphics, human
resources and general business studies, among others. Some of the
programs kept were post-bachelor programs such as landscape
architecture and Teach L.A.

UCLA Extension has been a staple to the community of Los Angeles
since its inception in 1891. Known throughout the years for its
excellence in continuing education and expert instructors, it has
the largest writing program in the nation and is a pioneer in
women’s and Chicano studies. Take it from a current ““
oops, I mean former ““ student of the certificate program for
“Public Relations with a Concentration in Entertainment
Publicity.”

I am troubled when I think that quality education such as the
extension programs are no longer supported by our federal
government. Again I ask, who is to blame for this injustice to the
American student? Well, I don’t think we can blame one group
of people for this.

Could it be that UCLA extension does not meet the standards set
by the DOE, which validates schools? Could it have something to do
with George W. Bush our “educational president”? Or is
it just bad timing? Well I guess we will never truly know.

So what is the future of the extension student in need of
financial assistance? The option given to the extension student is
to either apply for the extension grant, which pays for one class
on a financial need basis, or to apply for private continuing
education loans. This leaves a large hole in the population of
students such as myself who previously paid for 70 percent of the
program through grants, not to be paid back.

I have searched for grants, scholarships and even loans to
finish my program and advance my career further, yet what I have
found is that the majority of these types of aid do not apply to
continuing education. They require a student to go full time (12
units or more), which is hard for a working adult in a program such
as this, and usually requires that the student attend a four-year
college.

Another problem with all of this is that a person in a
continuing education program would not need nearly as much money as
would the recipient of the scholarship for a university.

I feel that there should be a review and possibly a reform of
the standards set by the DOE regarding continuing education. There
also needs to be a greater awareness of the importance of
continuing education programs nationwide.

It is sad that the quality programs such as those of the
extension are no longer readily available to the people of the
community.