Without financial aid, Evangelina Alvarez, a student at Napa Valley College, probably wouldn’t be attending college. It turns out she’s far from alone. 

The number of Napa Valley College students turning to financial aid programs is soaring — a change largely attributed to the economic downturn and recent fee hikes in many colleges and universities.

Alvarez, 19, said her circumstances make it tough to afford tuition and materials. Unlike last semester, neither she nor her mother, a single parent, is currently employed. Alvarez said she’s managing financially thanks to a fee waiver for her college courses, adding that many students are up against similar challenges.

“Those who are full-time students, with a ton of homework (and) no education other than high school are struggling as I am to find work. Financial aid is our only option,” she said. “If my mom had lost her job at the time I started this semester, I don’t know how I would have afforded my books. I know plenty of people who are working full-time instead of going to school, just to get by.” 

About 1,600 Napa Valley College student aid applications are complete and ready to make their way through the system, compared to just 809 at this time last year, according to Jill Schrutz, the college’s dean of financial aid. The office handling aid, she said, “has already received more applications this year to date than we did all of last year.”

Schrutz said her staff first noted the trend early this year, when applications started rolling in.

“There are always a lot to begin with, but it didn’t let up,” Schrutz said. “This will continue all year long because we continue to get applications. Once we get to March and April, we will be doing two years at one time.” 

Patti Morgan, assistant director of financial aid at NVC, said the federal government is taking steps to address students’ growing financial needs. At $5,350, the maximum amount of money available under the federal Pell grant is about $600 more than it was last year, she said.

The college’s financial aid office connects students with several kinds of assistance, including federal and state grants, loans, work study programs and other forms of aid. NVC students received about $3 million in federal Pell grants alone last year, Schrutz said. 

The volume of requests is bogging down the college’s financial aid office and staffers are asking students to be patient. Schrutz said severe cutbacks in state funding have prevented the office from hiring extra personnel to process applications.

The college is facing a $4 million budget hole for the current academic year, as California shores up its $26 billion-plus budget deficit.

Meanwhile, enrollment is up about six percent at Napa Valley College, college officials say.

“Whenever there’s a downturn in the economy and a surge in unemployment, a lot of people will come back to school,” Schrutz said.

People with more education have a better chance in today’s competitive job market. The college’s enrollment spike can also be

attributed to students migrating to the campus on the heels of substantial tuition increases and capped enrollment practices throughout the state university and UC systems, Schrutz said.

Although Napa Valley College instituted a state-mandated fee increase this year from $20 per unit to $26, the community college remains a much more affordable option than many educational institutions. Moreover, Napa Valley College students eligible for fee waivers based on income won’t be affected by the community college’s fee increases at all, Schrutz said.

Like Alvarez, Shondala Spencer, who is taking pre-nursing courses at the college, is feeling the pinch.

The mother of a 12-year-old daughter, Spencer, 35, said she got laid off over the summer from her campus job as an assistant for a math, engineering and science program. An aspiring midwife, Spencer said although she’ll net some financial assistance this year in the form of scholarships and a federal Pell grant, others are not so lucky.

For instance, she said, her friend recently dropped out because she couldn’t get enough financial aid.

Rob Holst, Napa Valley College student trustee and president of the campus’ Beta Beta Sigma Chapter, said recent fee increases and difficulties balancing a job and a full load of classes are posing challenges.

“I had to work during the summer to pay around $800 in books alone for this semester,” he said. “That does not include lab fees and other equipment fees that are required to go through the classes I need. Financial aid allows me to be able to cut back on hours that I would need to put into working and still be able to survive.”

Holst, who is studying respiratory therapy and plans to attend medical school, said he’s waiting longer to get news about prospective aid for next semester.

“I have been apprehensively awaiting a response for the decision on my application because I have a lot riding on not having to pay the registration fees,” he said. “If I do not get approved for the fee waiver, I may have to take a semester off to work. This would severely slow down my transfer process,” he said.

Although Schrutz said she hopes the backlog doesn’t continue all year long, she said students shouldn’t let the spike in requests discourage them from seeking financial aid options. It’s important for students to get paperwork in as early and accurately as possible.

“There is aid available for students,” she said. “But a lot of times, students eliminate themselves without going through the process.”