Most academic awards are awarded by the admissions office of a college, not the financial aid office.

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According to the UNC-Wilmington financial aid office, a sophomore at the university is currently the scholarship's first and only recipient.

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The trouble was that students who most need aid are often precisely those who have nobody around them who has ever successfully navigated a complicated bureaucratic institution like a university financial aid office.

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He sent an appeal to the college's financial-aid office, along with aid offers from other schools and additional information on his family's finances.

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With a counselor's help, the school's financial-aid office pulled together enough assistance to keep him in the program, including a merit-based scholarship and assistance with federal loan applications.

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Send the results to the school's financial-aid office with a letter requesting more aid, and include any more-generous awards that other colleges provided or information on your financial situation that might merit more aid.

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Also in Hong Kong, South China Morning Post reports a "shock move" by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to cut financial aid from June to some 132 recognised refugees living in Hong Kong.

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The iss office at most schools helps find living quarters, process paperwork such as visas, obtain financial aid and, as in Oh's case, to get students in classes to enhance their knowledge of English.

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