Effective Monday, Sept. 25, the financial aid office is open monday-Thursday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m and Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Recently, in an effort to expedite the processing of student files, verification, and loans, the financial aid office stopped seeing students at 2 p.m. Although, the early closing was an inconvenience for students it was necessary for the staff, financial aid director Tracie Matthews said.According to Matthews, “It was an administrative decision” to stop seeing students at 2 p.m. She said it was necessary “in order to make progress.” She added, “Shutting down the office early was so that more students were verified at a faster rate, more loans were certified, and more students were awarded.”
The financial aid staff reviewed and processed student accounts from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m., and on occasion, until 9 p.m. On drop day, Sept. 18, staff from the registrar’s office and fiscal office assisted the financial aid staff until 3 a.m. The staff was committed to having a sizable enrollment, which for the semester is near 8,100 students.
Matthews has been with the university for a year and recognizes the problems with financial aid. She said, “We will continue to make improvements.” The university is undergoing a change to a new computer system that will increase efficiency in the financial aid office. Part of the difficulty with financial aid is using the current manual system. The new system is expected to be in effect fall 2008.
Other improvements for financial aid include increasing personnel, fully training staff, cross-level training and being more proactive with receiving suggestions.