Dear grads,
We have been hard at work gathering information since Wednesday’s emails from the Financial Aid office, and it appears that the majority of undergrads listed in the Financial Aid emails are not at any imminent risk of having their financial aid impacted if their grades are not submitted. We urge you to continue to not submit unless a student specifically requests that you do so.
The Financial Aid office has been unable to answer our questions about how students may be impacted or what specific regulation requires this reporting, because they have been ordered by top-level administration not to talk to us. Thankfully, due to the support of our campus community, we have been able to gather information from allied undergrads, staff, and faculty, in addition to our own research into financial aid regulations and policies. Here is what we have learned:
This is not a list of students who have had their Winter aid delayed. We have heard from many undergrads now who have told us they were listed on the email, but they have not experienced any delays in their aid or received any contact from the Financial Aid office. Students whose aid may have been impacted by grade delays (e.g. students on financial aid probation) have already reached out to their TAs and had their grades submitted. Although we cannot say for sure that every student who needed their grades for financial aid purposes has asked for and received them, Slug Support has informed us that to their knowledge, no undergraduates have sought financial assistance from Slug Support due to financial hardships resulting from grade delays.
It appears that the reason for this email is that the federal government requires UCSC to verify that students actually attended the term for which they received their financial aid (in this case, Fall quarter). This is typically verified by students’ grades – if they earned a grade, that is proof that they attended. With the grades left blank, the university cannot use grades to verify that students actually attended. The federal government will require that UCSC return the funds disbursed for each student for whom they cannot verify attendance. The deadline of today for submitting grades is related to a reporting deadline for these federal regulations – it is NOT a deadline after which some negative consequence will befall the listed students. If the UC is required to return aid funds to the federal government due to missing grades, the UC has the power to decide whether to repay those funds out of the UC’s pocket or by billing undergrad students retroactively for Fall tuition. Despite the UC administration’s demonstrated lack of care for its students (undergrad and grad alike), we do not believe that they care so little for undergrads as to pass these costs on to them. This would be extremely risky and, of course, subject to appeal. Imagine if students were to be held financially responsible because of events completely outside of their control. If the UC were to make this decision – to penalize undergraduate students for no fault of their own – they would be subject to massive backlash, including lawsuits.
We cannot be 100% sure that this is the only reason students were listed in the email, due to the lack of answers from Financial Aid, but we trust the students to decide for themselves if they want their grades to be submitted. We have heard from many students who requested to have their grades withheld in support of the strike, and were confused and upset when they found out that their grades had been submitted against their will, even though their aid had not been impacted. We value and honor undergraduate solidarity, and will continue to leave it to our students to decide if they urgently need their grades. They know their own lives best. We will also continue to communicate openly with our students, to help them sort through admin’s vague and threatening emails and determine how they may actually be impacted. We encourage all grads to let their students know directly if they were listed on the Financial Aid email, and discuss this information with them to help them decide how they would like to proceed. We will also be sending out email templates to use with faculty and undergrads to communicate with them about this issue; look for them later this afternoon.
This vague email from Financial Aid, demanding that grades be released within 2 days – without providing any explanation or consulting the students in question – is in perfect alignment with the administration’s strategy to weaken our strike action by whittling away at our withholding of grades. The administration is depending on using our care for undergraduates against us, but graduate students and undergrads are resolved not to be divided by the administration.
We believe that Financial Aid staff care about undergrads and would like to work with us to help protect them, but admin’s refusal to communicate – going so far as to actively shut down lines of communication between grads and administrative offices – has made mitigating impacts on undergrads much more difficult, both for staff and for us. Admin’s obstructionism disproportionately places the administrative burden of the strike on the front-line staff – many of whom are themselves underpaid and exploited by the UC – and it puts undergraduates at risk.
We will not allow the UC administration to divide us. Undergrads, grads, staff, and faculty are united in our desire for a truly inclusive campus community where all members have what they need. Do not be confused or intimidated by the administration’s tactics – we are all on the same side. When we fight, we win!
In solidarity,
Roxy Davis
Tony Boardman
James Sirigotis
Email templates are attached below: