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Schools

SUNY Student Financial Aid Day Educates Parents and Students

Speaker Tom Casserly helped attendees navigate the sometimes confusing world of financial aid.

Nassau Community College's (NCC) financial aid department Saturday morning opened up for prospective college students and their parents to help guide them through the process of applying for financial aid. SUNY Student Financial Aid Day was an event geared toward helping students apply to any SUNY (State University of New York ) school.

Speakers Carol Ortin and Tom Casserly did put special emphasis on NCC as an affordable two-year option.

"If you're thinking about Nassau fill out the application, get them in," Ortin, of NCC's admissions office, said. "It's a good deal," adding that NNC's tuition is only $1,866 per semester.

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The morning's main speaker was Casserly, NCC's director of financial aid. His presentation was broken down into three parts – what financial aid is and where it comes from, sources of financial aid and an overview of how parents and students can apply.

"With the way the economy's going we've seen more and more people applying for financial aid," Casserly said. "College is expensive."

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Because of the high need Casserly stressed that parents and students know exactly how to apply and what to apply for. He also bemoaned some of the more seemingly unfair or needlessly complicated parts of the process, citing cuts in government aid as the major problem – one particular issue Casserly deemed wholly unfair.

"I can rob all the banks I want and get financial aid, but if I use or possess drugs I can't," Casserley said. "I want to know who in Washington sits in dark rooms and comes up with these things." He maintained he wasn't advocating drug use, but only citing disparities within the system.

Fellow director of financial aid Patricia Moren was optimistic about the morning's attendance and thought that educating parents was crucial.

"It's a SUNY effort to create an awareness of the financial aid process," Moren said.

Casserly, during his PowerPoint, kept coming back to one theme – the economy's effect on students' choices for higher education. He acknowledged that students might not get to attend their first choice schools, opting to save money closer to home instead.

"That's why I suggest everyone come to Nassau," Casserly joked.

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