PASADENA, Texas — Despite the extended College closure due to Hurricane Ike, the San Jacinto College department of fiscal affairs was able to provide over three thousand students more than $4 million in federal financial aid on time.

Numerous employees worked during their time off to process the Title IV disbursement checks, to ensure that San Jacinto College students were provided the necessary funds to return to class when the College re-opened on Monday, September 29. More than three thousand students were awarded $4.6 million in financial aid money, of which over half the students picked up their checks on the first day back following the hurricane.

"This was truly a team effort,” said Bill Dickerson, Director of Accounting and Financial Services at San Jacinto College. “I want to thank everyone that was directly and indirectly involved in the process. Many people wanted to get back to their homes and workstations following the storm, but instead worked as a team to provide our students with financial aid money during this critical time in their lives.”

The federal funds came in the form of Pell grants, Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants (SEOG) and Federal Family Educational Loans (FFEL), both subsidized and unsubsidized. Funds are typically available 30 days following the start of the semester, which would have put the distribution of funds on September 23. The College’s fiscal affairs department was able to have those funds available one week later for students.

For more information about San Jacinto College, please visit http://www.sanjac.edu/, or call 281-998-6150.