338 students recieve delayed financial aid

A data loss in the Financial Aid Office system this week caused 338 students to experience a delay in receiving their aid.

The data loss in the system was identified Tuesday and recurred on Wednesday. Staff had to restore affected financial aid records individually until a technical solution could be put in place.

The data was recovered and the affected students should have received their aid on Thursday. Grants have been posted to student accounts. However, if aid is not received already, please contact the Financial Aid Office at 503-491-7262.

Only 10 percent of aid recipients should have experienced a one-day delay in disbursements.

In a staff message Wednesday from David Minger, vice president for student success and enrollment, he said, “We are working hard to solve the technical problem quickly. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience.”

Minger said the Financial Aid Office “did not receive a critical file back from the federal level” until Thursday morning, so loans will reach students Friday.

MHCC is working with the student information systems database provider, Jenzabar, to find an exact cause and solution, said Minger. They have not experienced this problem before, but a different aspect of disbursement has had problems in the past.

How the bookstore accepted financial aid vouchers was not affected. Students could also use financial aid credits that remained on their Mountain cards previously.
Minger said, the “Financial Aid Office sincerely appreciated the understanding and patience of students who were affected.”