Nearly all the students who have been awaiting millions of dollars in aid since early August have finally received it.

At the beginning of the school year, the financial aid office had yet to distribute over $8 million in aid.

By the end of next week, the Office of Financial Aid will have caught up to the amount it gave out to students by mid-September last year, said John Nametz, director of financial aid.

"We are at 100 percent on grants compared to last year, and 95 percent on loans compared to last year," Nametz said.

Not all of the available aid has been given out because students can apply for loans until the end of the year.

Nametz said that the primary source for the delays was a decision made by the financial aid office in June to send out award letters one month later than usual. The decision was based on complications implementing a new computer system.

"The system wasn't ready for us, and we weren't ready for it," Nametz said.

Normally, students receive a letter in the mail around June 15, notifying them the amount of aid they have been awarded, Nametz said. This year, the letters were not sent until July 18.

"Our ideal is to send out claim notices in mid June. Until we have a reliable, consistent, and accurate system, we can't do that," Nametz said.

Some students said they understand the need for a new system but won't let the office off the hook for the delays.

"Computer systems need to be updated," said Michelle Yang, an international studies senior. "Hopefully this system will be better, but they could have planned it better," she added.

Sarina Sriboonlue, an agriculture and bio-systems engineering graduate student, said that the financial aid office could have been more open with students.

"If they knew that it was going to be delayed, they should have informed the students, let them know what's going on," Sriboonlue said.

Carol Gillard, a marketing senior, said she doesn't blame the computer system; she blames the office for the delays in aid.

"I don't think you can really blame the computer, there are people running the computers," Gillard said. "They should have started training people earlier, or waited to implement the system next semester."

Not all students are concerned about the delays.

"I don't see it as a huge problem," said Corina Fuentes, a molecular and cellular biology junior, who received her aid before school started.

"If it's going to be better in the future, maybe it's worth being a little tight on money for a little bit," she said.

Students who were waiting for aid earlier in the semester were granted "saves," which prevented them from paying late fees, Nametz said.

"Once you were saved on financial aid, even if you registered for more credits, the save is still good," Nametz said.

This guaranteed waiver of late fees did not reassure all students.

Yang said she kept checking her account on Student Link to make sure those fees had not been charged to her account.

Nametz said he expects no major delays next semester because the new computer system is fully functioning.

"Spring disbursements will be back to normal. I don't expect any lines at all," he said.