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Delayed FAFSA Rollout Leaves College Students in Limbo

Marty Triplett
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Delayed FAFSA Rollout Leaves College Students in Limbo

The financial aid decisions that usually go out with acceptance letters are being delayed because of a later-than-expected rollout of a revised Free Application for Federal Student Aid, causing students to not receive their financial aid on time. 

The Department of Education will not send any college students’ information to their financial aid until early March. The new and simplified FAFSA application caused the delay; which had the college administrators scrambling and the acceptance letters to be delayed.

Income exemption guidelines have yet to be fixed in the new FAFSA applications, leading to many students losing additional aid. 

The usual opening date for FAFSA was pushed back to the end of December, which led to delays in the college student’s financial aid award letters. 

Students will be able to start their financial aid applications by December 31, 2023. The delayed financial aid has raised concerns that fewer students will apply for aid to go to college. 

Long Beach City College Financial Aid Specialist, Erandy Fuentes said, “With FAFSA being delayed, it has affected many students because most of them still haven’t received their financial aid package.” 

This means that the students who haven’t received it, can not pick which college they want to go to, they don’t know how much aid they will receive. 

Awards for the students have come in late which caused them to disburse the funds later than usual. Also, it affected them because they were backed up with helping students to apply for it and reviewing the ones that they had already received. 

Fuentes explained that it affected the students in two different ways. The majority of students are still waiting on their financial aid packages and the second way is, that most colleges and universities will not receive the students’ FAFSA applications until March. 

“Usually, I would receive my financial award letter in the last week in January, but since it was delayed, I haven’t received any information about it until the second week in February.” Stangia Herod said, a student at LBCC. 

This has a lot of college students on edge because they don’t know if they will receive financial aid for the 2024-2025 academic year. This year’s FAFSA applications for colleges and universities have been delayed from four to six weeks. 

Miguel Cardona, the Secretary of Education has stated that they will prioritize the lower resources campus for them to receive their students’ financial aid packages. 

The FAFSA delays have affected millions of students and their families. It has stopped them from filing it and also processing it and sending out their financial aid packages to the colleges. 

Hopefully, all the colleges receive the FAFSA applications, process each student’s financial aid packages, and send them out to the students.

Student Trustee sheds tears during report at LBCC’s February trustee meeting

Marty Triplett
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Student Trustee sheds tears during report at LBCC’s February trustee meeting

Correction: A previous version of this article misnamed the Native American and Indigenous Collaborative as the Native American Indigenous Coalition. The article has been corrected.

LBCC’s student trustee gave a heartfelt report during Long Beach City Colleges first Board of Trustees meeting this month on Wednesday.

The meeting began with the usual review of closed session items, topics that cannot be discussed during the general public meeting. The board announced a 3% increase to Superintendent-President Mike Munoz’s annual salary from $325,008 to $334,750.

It is standard during these monthly meetings for every board member to give a five minute report on the work they have been doing for the school, including LBCC’s ASB President and the school’s student trustee.

Emma Manetta, who was elected to be LBCC’s student representative during the Fall 2023 semester, rather than giver her usual report, opted to talk about the recent death of a Choctaw Nation and nonbinary high school student Nex Benedict in Oklahoma.

Emma Manetta at the February Board of Trustees meeting. These meetings are held every month at LBCC. Emma is talking about the current injustices that the Native American community is facing. (Zuri Minor)

Manetta spoke at length about the ways she saw the struggles of her and other Native students at LBCC in Benedict’s story, as well as the need to acknowledge the disproportionate rates of violence Native Americans face in the U.S.

“I want to use my voice, my platform and my agency to help my community both on campus and off,” Manetta said.

As part of the Native American and Indigenous Collaborative at LBCC, Manetta recently reached out to different departments to share a form she designed to survey Native students and record their experiences at LBCC.

“Our youths are having their right to live constantly being taken away,” Manetta said.

Manetta hopes that departments will disperse the form and she will be able to use the reports to have a conversation with trustees about ways to best support Native students on campus.

“It pains me knowing that our community members, on a weekly basis, are on the edge of dropping out of LBCC and feeling like they are not part of the community, like they are not being heard,” Manetta said.  

Manetta began to tear up as she finished speaking, the emotion strong in her voice.

The board also acknowledged the work of the Black History Month planning committee, recognizing two committee chairs, student counselor Erainia Freeman and Academic senate president Jerome Hunt for their events programming.

“This has been an amazing month. I can honestly say in the 20-something years I’ve been here, this was the most exciting. You felt the energy and positive vibes from the moment you went in the room,” Freeman said. “You can tell someone’s having a good time when they don’t want to leave.”

Eraina Freeman, and Jerome Hunt, at the February Board of Trustees meeting. These meetings are held every month at LBCC. Freeman, a counselor, and Hunt, the Academia Senate, are discussing the success of The Black History Month event at LBCC. (Zuri Minor)

According to Hunt, the Black History month celebration had the greatest number of attendees at this event compared to previous heritage celebrations, with trustee and board President Vivian Malaaulu agreeing that it was the most attended celebration she had ever seen in her time at LBCC.

“It’s a complement (to have such a well attended event) to having an amazing committee. Everyone had a very positive energy when the planning began,” said Freeman.

The next Board of Trustees meeting will occur on March 13 in room T-1200.

Cerda, Chambers, Young outperformed during win against L.A. Southwest

Mari Kebede
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Cerda, Chambers, Young outperformed during win against L.A. Southwest

Long Beach City College men’s basketball sophomore Brandon Cerda would score the game clinching free throw on sophomore night to help give the Vikings a 85-79 victory over LA Southwest on Wednesday.

Cerda, the only sophomore on the men’s team was honored before the game with balloons and a framed jersey as this would also be his last home before regionals. 

“It feels good. The last two years I have been really fine. A lot of good memories, so it’s good to end it that way,” Cerda said. 

The Vikings would take the first half with a score of 47-40, but LA Southwest would take the second half 39-38.

The team’s offense had 13 offensive rebounds, and 17 assists during the game.

Cerda scored a total of 19 points and made all nine of his free throws for the vikings.

“Been a stand out player for us the whole year  [Cerda], being categories in all the conference. He’s top ten in scoring in the state and he’s been our leader. He’s been our only sophomore on the team and we got a lot of young freshmen guys and he’s been our leader and just happy to have him,” head coach Barry Barnes said.

Two of Cerda’s teammate’s would also have a high scoring night with both freshman guards Franklin Chambers and Kane Young scoring 25 and 19 points.

LBCC men’s basketball dribbles up the court to extend their lead against LA Southwest. The Vikings won the game 85-79 on Wednesday. (Jorge Hernandez)

Ultimately the Vikings would extend their win streak to two games, their home record to 4-4 and their overall record to 11-16.

The men’s team lost against Cerritos in the following game on Friday. 

“Cerritos beat us by 26 last time, so now we gotta go over to Cerritos and try to go get this win and we want to finish strong,” Barnes said.

The Vikings played their last game before regionals against Cerritos on Friday and lost but now will look to compete in Regionals which begin in March.

Vikings dominate at Ron Allice track & field open

Lolita Mojica
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Vikings dominate at Ron Allice track & field open

Correction: This story has been pulled by the Viking News Editorial board for failing to adhere to the standards of the Viking News.

Freshmen, Lauren Ferguson launches a javelin as she competes in the 2024 Ron Allice Open on Friday, Feb. 16. Ferguson took third in the women’s javelin throw. (Jorge Hernandez)

LBCC Freshmen Joshua Jung (No. 3) competes in the men’s 1500 meter run during the Ron Allice Open on Friday, Feb. 16. (Jorge Hernandez)

Men’s volleyball struggles continue after loss to Orange Coast

Ian Salazar
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Men’s volleyball struggles continue after loss to Orange Coast

Long Beach City College’s low percentage of converting on kill attempts going into the final two sets leads to the team’s fifth straight loss to open the season as Vikings lost 3-2 against Orange Coast College in their home opener.

Sophomore, opposite hitter and middle blocker Shane Nhem had 12 kills on the night but also struggled with errors as he led the team with 10.

“We have the skill, we have the heart, it’s just that we get down on ourselves too much throughout the game and we really can’t bring ourselves out of that hole,” Nhem said about what he felt was the reason for the team’s early lack of success.

Through the first three sets of the contest, both LBCC and OCC kept it close, with OCC winning the first set by only two points and LBCC winning the second set by two and the third by three.

In the fourth set, OCC came out with the set win and the largest victory margin of the night with a 10-point difference.

OCC dominated this set with kills as the team converted on 12 of its 17 kill attempts.

LBCC setter Willy Wang (2), stretches to set the ball for his teammates against Orange Coast College during their match on Wednesday. Men’s volleyball lose 3-2, putting their overall record at 0-5 for the season. (Isabel Murty)

In the night’s final set, OCC spoiled the Vikings’ home opener as a 15-10 set win would lead to the continuation of LBCC’s losing streak to open the season.

Nhem’s statement proved to be true as the Vikings could not find the right rhythm after a crushing fourth-set blowout.

After the game, Vikings’ first-year head coach Angel Nikolov declined to comment on the game and had assistant coach Jason Kwak speak instead.

“I think we as a team are pretty young, so we have a lot of growing to do and figuring out. Something that a common thing amongst all of our losses has been is that we were very resilient. So we’re seeing flashes of what we can do. And every match that’s been going on all the way to the end has been getting closer and closer, so that’s something we’re looking forward to keep building on,” Kwak stated.

The Vikings ended up finding their groove in the next contest as well as their first win of the season by shutting out Fullerton College in a 3-0 victory.

LBCC will look to build off of that win and look to win two straight as the Vikings take on Santa Barbara College in a conference matchup at home in their next game on February 28.

As students continue to search for reliable food options, LBCC works hard to meet their needs

Lolita Mojica
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As students continue to search for reliable food options, LBCC works hard to meet their needs

As the spring semester kicks off at Long Beach City College, students are seeking healthy and affordable food options around campus. 

The previous ‘Viking Express’ has been rebranded as ‘Campus Market,’ introducing a diverse array of culinary delights to the student body. 

Whether students are seeking a quick bite between classes or a leisurely meal with friends, the Campus Market has them covered with options like sandwiches, salads and soups.

Similar to previous semesters, LBCC has reintroduced food trucks onto campus which are located in the main quad on the Liberal Arts Campus. 

A main concern for students around campus is the affordability of these food trucks. 

Louie Z, a worker for Pepe’s Red Tacos food truck which serves a variety of beef birria meals, says he believes their menu is “reasonably priced”. 

Second year LBCC student, Julia Romero disagrees, “I paid sixteen dollars for a small, soggy burrito. Something like this should go for eight dollars.” 

“Food trucks are a temporary fix until the Mobile Kitchens are up and running,” Robert Rapoza said, the Interim Associate Vice President of Administrative and Business Services. 

The Mobile Kitchens are located in the main quad of LAC, and are expected to open late February or late March per Rapoza. 

The Mobile Kitchens will be operated from 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. which is not yet finalized. Offering meals for breakfast and lunch that range from the lowest of $7 to $12, with plates like pastries, croissants, chicken tenders and nashville hot chicken sandwiches. 

Students can also find the Viking Vault which is a Basic Needs Program that offers free food resources to those in need. The food pantry, located at LAC in E-131, and Pacific Coast Campus in QQ-107 offers students groceries and snacks at no cost and no limitation of visits to the Vault. 

Also provided at the Pacific Coast Campus is the newly reopened cafeteria, renamed, The Grill located in building GG open Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.  

“The Grill is the previous cafeteria on PCC, Genuine Foods who also runs the previously known Viking Express, now The Market, also runs The Grill,” Rapoza said. 

For students looking for a more intimate and sit down dining experience, the Bakery and Bistro is a popular destination located in the V building of the Liberal Arts Campus. 

The Bistro is run by students in LBCC’s Culinary Arts department and serves food at a fine-dining, three course menu with a choice of appetizer or salad, entrée, and dessert. 

While the Bakery is also run by students it offers grab and go items like pastries, cookies, croissants, coffee and muffins. 

“We (the Bakery and Bistro) are not in it to make a profit, we want to provide affordable options to students,” Gene Carbonaro said, dean of Applied Technology & Culinary Arts

Both establishments will open March 5 with operating hours every Tuesday and Wednesday from 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. as those are the days the culinary classes meet. 

With a limited number of food options on campus, students are questioning if the campus cafeteria will ever return to offer students a larger, affordable variety of food. 

The cafeteria at the LAC has been closed since the COVID-19 pandemic which has yet to reopen, posing challenges for students seeking convenient and reliable food options. 

While the introduction to the revamped Campus Market, food trucks, the Viking Vault along with the Bistro has provided alternative dining experiences, many students still seek the return of the LAC cafeteria.

LBCC student Alex Suarez searches for food options at The Market on the Liberal Art Campus. Previously known as the Viking Express, the strews rebranded and now ran by Genuine Foods. (Izzy Juarez)

“I was not at LBCC when the cafeteria was still opened but I can imagine how convenient it was for students to grab a bite and meet friends in between classes, I hope the administration can realize what is better for the students and offer a better selection of food and prices,” Jason Nguyen said, a first year LBCC student. 

The cafeteria has yet to reopen at LAC since the building that it resides in will be demolished. The new building which is set to open in the summer or fall of 2027 will offer a fully operated cafeteria for students. 

As the spring semester progresses, students remain to seek new food options on campus that are affordable, healthy and convenient.

Baseball secures win against Fullerton in extra innings

Lolita Mojica
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Baseball secures win against Fullerton in extra innings

A Fullerton miscommunication led to sophomore Ryan Geck sliding home to secure the victory in the 12th inning for Long Beach City College men’s baseball 6-5 over Fullerton on Friday.

This comes after a big loss at Fullerton on Wednesday where they fell 12-6 to the hornets.

Sophomore reliever Max Sasaki subbed in the 10th inning and pitched the final three innings scoreless including some crucial strikeouts to bring home the game for the Vikings.

“Obviously Max Sasaki pitched really tough in those extra innings and you know that’s something we’ve done a few times already come back and win a game or get a walk-off late innings so that’s probably our number one strength right now is that we don’t give up and we can win games like that so it was good for it to show up again today,” Head coach Casey Crook said.

The game was defined by Fullerton’s mistakes as they gave up runs in the fifth inning and eventually in the 12th off miscommunication and errors.

“We were definitely good, I mean we were pretty slow in the beginning, we couldn’t get that much hits but the team just tagged the loss and we won. It was pretty good honestly,” Sasaki said. 

12 innings made this game the longest game the Vikings have played all season.

“I think it’s a lot of pressure. I think they put a lot of pressure on themselves. It’s hard to simulate those kinds of things in practice but they also had fun doing it so I think that’s why we can win games like that because they don’t freeze up. I’m not saying we played great but they don’t freeze up and they go for the win and they stay tough,” Crook said. .

Right-handed pitcher, Luis Guzman throws a pitch during Friday’s game. (Lolita Mojica)

This improves the Vikings record to 7-3 which is good for second in the South Coast Conference where they will start conference play on Tuesday.

The team finished 16-8 last year, good for third in the conference and is looking to make their way back to the top of the standings.

Sasaki believes that the team still has some messes to clean up but that in the end they are going to win the conference.

“I feel good because we know we can win games, I don’t think our pitching is quite figured out but we’ve played a pretty tough schedule so overall I feel good about this team, I think you know traditionally we compete for conference championships and playoff spots and I think this team is right there with the teams that have come before them,” said Crook.

The team looks to start off conference play with a win at Pasadena City College next Tuesday.

Viking News Broadcast: LBCC Rocket League vs. Cougars Black

Neil Gagna
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LBCC Rocket League continues forth into the regular season as they play Cougars Black from Cal State San Marcos. After a convincing 3-0 sweep last week, the Vikings hope to continue with that momentum to stay at the top of the standings. Commentary by Ian Salazar and Zuri Minor.

LBCC gets their third win straight on the road against Cypress College

Lolita Mojica
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LBCC gets their third win straight on the road against Cypress College

Long Beach City College baseball scores big as they defeated Cypress College on the road with a finishing three man home run by Xander McLaurin in the final inning making the score 12-7 on Tuesday. 

The Vikings baseball arrived at Cypress college to potentially extend their strong season start. As LBCC hoped to start a win streak and extend their wins in their season to 6-2.  

Pitcher Dylan Proost provided a strong four runless innings only allowing two runs in the bottom of the fifth while finishing his performance with six innings pitched and just one strikeout.


“It didn’t feel like I did my best stuff today but still I was up there and able to compete,” Proost said. “I think as a team we did well today. We had some errors but we came through as we battled back with the bats.”

While first baseman Ryan Geck hit a solo home run in the top of the second inning and shortstop Olin Snakenborg with a two man home run in the third brought in a decent lead for the vikings.

Yet Cypress responded with two runs in the bottom of the fifth while the Vikings made errors, allowing three runs in the seventh and a home run by right fielder Jack Burkle in the eighth. 


Vikings head coach Casey Crook believed the team did a great job with the offense, defense and the pitching line in regards to how they managed to defeat Cypress.

“Cypress is a good team, they’ve been very offensive this year so we gave them something,” Coach Crook said in regards to Cypress college aggressiveness of offense.

Despite Cypress’s efforts to a comeback, Vikings right fielder Xander McLaurin was the hero of the team as he hit a three man home run in the top of the ninth. 

“I decided to make some adjustments during the game since I was 0-5,” Mclaurin said. “But hitting that just makes it really special. Just having a mind set to be the guy in front of you during the inning and let the game take care of itself.”

The Vikings also won against Fullerton on Friday, extending their winning streak.

“Our offense is so great I think we got a chance to win anything and they have been,” Coach Crook said in regards to the next game. “Our pitchers have been improving, as our pitching improves we can play with anybody around here right now.”

The Vikings conference season begins Feb. 20 with two away games and finally a home game Feb. 24 all against Pasadena City College.

Viking News Broadcast: LBCC Rocket League vs. OKEA Blue

Neil Gagna
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LBCC Rocket League kicks off the 2024 Spring season against OKEA Blue from the University of British Columbia-Okanagan in week 1 of the season. Commentary by Ian Salazar and Zuri Minor.
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