The first step of the comprehensive review of the Office of Financial Aid began Monday afternoon with a student lunch hosted by Dean of Financial Aid Laurie Schaffler and Columbia College Student Council President Aki Terasaki, CC ’12.
Ten students met with Schaffler in Lerner and discussed their experiences with the office and how it could be improved.
“These small groups are really an opportunity for me to listen and to hear what the student experience is,” Schaffler said in an interview last week. “Hopefully people will talk candidly and honestly about their experiences,” she said.
“The first half was people trying to find a link between the issues that they had, and the second half was more how this could be resolved,” Roko Rumora, CC ’14, said after attending the discussion. “A major part of the meeting was spent focusing on the fact that financial aid is not a mechanical [process] for students, it’s a very much emotional process and a lot of students who had significant delays mentioned that it was a great source of anxiety not knowing in August whether they would be able to come back to school.”
Karishma Habbu, CC ’13 and CCSC Student Services Representative, was the first CCSC member to spearhead the issue of a review of the Office of Financial Aid and is continuing to collaborate with administrators.
“I’ve been very, very happy with how many people have signed up,” said Habbu, noting that she had to turn people away from the lunch this Thursday because there is not enough space.
The lunches, which students can sign up for online, will be held each Monday and Thursday this month.
“What we really aim to do is to get people to talk about their experience, their experience with the financial aid office ... and to talk about some of the challenges,” Schaffler said, noting that both students who receive financial aid and those who do not can attend the lunches.
“We are trying to target both students who are on financial aid and even students who are not on financial aid because part of the services that that office provides are not only for students who are on financial aid,” Dean of Student Affairs Kevin Shollenberger, who is also involved with the review, said.
Increasing financial literacy and familiarity with the cost of education are two such services, Shollenberger said.
The lunches are part of a larger-scale review of financial aid that was initiated by the Columbia College Student Council this fall and subsequently adopted as part of the administration’s agenda.
Loosely modeled on the review of the Center for Student Advising that took place last year, the review will include a survey and student focus groups in addition to the lunches. The survey, which is in the final stages of preparation, is scheduled to go out in early March to all students who receive financial aid.
“I feel really good about our relationship that we have with the councils in moving us forward,” Shollenberger said. “I hope that will really help us get students more involved.”
Although Habbu was not able to attend the lunch on Monday, she has heard from others that the lunch went well. “The fact that there was really good conversation says a lot about the relevance of this topic on campus,” she said.
Rumora also remains hopeful. “It was a very positive, optimistic meeting,” he said. “Dean Schaffler really seemed like she was enthusiastic about making any changes to the situation.”
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