By Kadisha Pierre-Louis
News Editor
Q: What resources are available to students who are struggling?
A: “The Dean of Students Office is really a one-stop shop for a student who are in crisis at different levels, whether it is financial or whether there’s some other really difficult situation outside the classroom that they’ve encountered.
The Dean of Students can direct them to mental health counseling, the food pantry, the financial aid office and other resources and really be the case manager to make sure that students get their challenge addressed.”
Q: How does the university respond when students are facing financial difficulties?
A: “Our Financial Aid Office works with stu- dents during the application process to put together packages that include federal financial aid, state funding, merit awards and other forms of assistance. We also have people who work directly with students who are at risk of dropping out because of financial challenges.
They explore every possibility for ways to close that gap. Sometimes that includes counseling about student loan programs, looking at jobs on campus or even looking at whether going to community college for a few semesters would allow them to complete some general education classes at a lower cost. We have a real individual approach to handling those situations as they come up.”
Q: What other forms of emergency support are available to students?
A: “Our Dean of Students division has the food pantry here on campus.
They also have emergency funding for text- books and some emergency housing options if students find themselves without housing. There are many students who run into pretty difficult personal situations and might need some temporary assistance.
We have donors who have given us money during our Day of Caring, so we have a small amount of money that can be used for unanticipated emergencies that students experience.”
Q: Why might students not know about these resources?
A: “It’s a fine line. If we widely advertise that, it will bring an enormous number of people forward, and we don’t have the resources to sort through those requests to see which are more important.
We would run out of money quickly. That’s why it has been more of when we see, learn or hear about a student, or a student comes forward with a substantial challenge we mobilize ourselves and look at that as one of the options for how we helo them.”
Q: What do you want students to know about the resources available to them?
A: “Every person here really does want students to be successful I think people forget that sometimes.
Students should be looking at each person as a resource and looking at all the offices, services and events as resources that someone has already invested in and that are waiting to be utilized by students as part of the tuition and fees they’ve already paid.
We’ve tried to put everything a student would need in place here, but so many students never use those resources.
It’s a shame because one of those resources might have made all the difference.”
