By Debra Marisa Greene
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA Financial Aid Office is conducting a housing
verification for randomly selected students receiving financial aid
in order to ensure they are receiving the appropriate amount.
Of the 21,000 UCLA students receiving financial aid for the
2001-02 academic year, 4,500 will be audited and asked to submit a
“Rental/Lease Certification Form” along with supporting
documents to the Financial Aid Office by Nov. 8.
According to Nick Valdivia, assistant director of the FAO, about
13 percent of students receiving aid do not report their proper
living conditions to the office, making the audit necessary.
Financial aid students receive different payments allocated
toward housing expenses depending on where they live: commuters who
live at home receive $11,500, students living off-campus receive
$16,000, and those in on-campus housing receive $16,500.
Students are not dishonest about where they are living, Valdivia
said, but they often forget to inform the FAO of changes in plans
of residence.
For example, a student may indicate on their Free Application
for Federal Student Aid form when applying for financial aid of
their intent to live on campus the following year. But they may
decide later in the summer ““ after the FAFSA form has been
turned in ““ that they want to live off campus instead.
Danesha Carter, the collections manager for housing accounts
receivable said it is not uncommon for students to move “to
the apartments, which are less expensive than the
dormitories.”
First-year music student Lindsey Strand-Polyak, who lives in
Dykstra Hall, has seen many students change their residence.
“A lot of the people living in the lounges are switching
to off-campus apartments and other residence halls,” she
said.
Valdivia said that when the audit finds students with a change
of residence, there will be no penalty.
“Their financial aid payment will just be changed based on
their current conditions,” Valdivia said.
Students were notified of their audit through e-mail messages.
For those who do not have an e-mail account or have one that
doesn’t work, a notification was sent to them through the
mail, Valdivia said.
He said he expects all students will receive the notification
and that there will be no problem with students not responding to
the audit.
Audits were done in the early 1980s and again in 1999. Valdivia
said he’s not sure whether there will be future audits.
“We will reassess its necessity during this audit and then
go from there,” he said.
For more information on the housing verification audit, call the
FAO at (310) 206-0400 or check its Web site at www.fao.ucla.edu.