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In business higher education Financial aid fiasco will cost CSN about $1.7 million By Paul Takahashi staff writer CSN's financial aid errors will cost the community college about $1.66 million, according to new estimates. In March, the U.S. Department of Education requested that the College of Southern Nevada verify its student financial aid figures after finding red flags in its annual financial aid audit for the 2011-12 and 2012-13 school years. An investigation by a third-party analyst found several "processing errors," which led to CSN overpaying and underpaying federal financial aid money to thousands of students. The average federal financial aid award at CSN is about $2,700 per student. The community college disclosed the errors to the public in late August, although at that time, officials did not know the number of students affected and how much federal money was mistakenly disbursed. On Oct. 3, after financial aid analysts ProEducation Solutions verified CSN's student records, community college officials disclosed the extent of its financial aid errors. CSN disbursed $133 million in financial aid to 49,366 students over the past two school years. With the help of ProEducation Solutions, CSN reviewed 13,348 students' financial aid records and found that about half of them — 6,279 student records — had inaccuracies, which ranged from simple file errors to those that affected how much financial aid money students received. In the case for 2,718 students, CSN's errors led to over-awards or under-awards in financial aid. This represented about 6 percent of all students receiving financial aid at CSN. "These errors are unacceptable and must be addressed," CSN President Michael Richards said in a statement. "It is critical for CSN to restore confidence in the integrity of the financial aid awards that CSN students receive and full faith in our processes and personnel." The financial aid department, with the assistance of business and finance staff, has been working to correct student records. In the wake of the financial aid fiasco, two of CSN's top administrators overseeing financial aid have resigned; one complaining of being overworked to the detriment of his health. CSN brought on Victoria Goeke, a senior consultant with Evans Consulting Group, as its interim financial aid director after Brad Honious, CSN's associate vice president of financial aid, resigned. Students who benefited from receiving more financial aid than they should have will not be penalized or forced to pay back their aid awards. Instead, CSN will be held liable to pay back the overawards to the Education Department. The $1.66 million repayment estimate, which still needs to be verified and accepted by the Education Department, represents about 1 percent of the total federal financial aid CSN disbursed over the past two years. cellphone lot is being discussed airport, From page 7 Will the airport ever build a cellphone lot (a free parking area where people picking up flyers can wait)? It is something we are hearing about more than ever. We have to consider the customer-service aspect of it and the service it provides to locals. If that's what they really want, and I can find a way that's not going to affect our rates and the budget too much, then we'll go ahead and look at it. Right now, it's just in the research phase. More importantly, we're seeing makeshift lots on roads coming into Terminal 1 and Terminal 3. If that's going to happen, I'd rather supply it on our terms. But they do cost money, so finding a site conducive to both Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 will be important because 20131028_VI07_F.indd 12 we don't want split lots since we have to maintain them. A lot of people don't realize you can park for free for 15 minutes in the shortterm lot. What airlines are on McCarran's wish list? We're going to work hard on the Asian carriers: Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Airlines. We think all three are very viable for nonstop flights to Las Vegas. Japan Airlines is also a company we'd like back. And Lufthansa would be a big hit here. But the focus will be Asia. When we talk to the Chinese carriers, we want to show them that we're different from Macau. 10/23/13 3:47:05 PM