Building homes and bonds
Understanding relationships formed on APEX Features, Pg. 8
THE HAWK March 26, 2014
Saint Joseph’s University | Volume XCII | Est. 1929 | www.hawkhillnews.com
WORK STUDY SOLUTION FOUND Additional aid allotted for students through rest of academic year AMANDA MURPHY ’14 Food Editor
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n March 17, Student Records and Financial Services sent out an email to all work study students informing them that the Federal Work Study (FWS) funding was at risk of being depleted by April. In the email, it was determined that once the funding was gone, students would have to stop working at their placements: “You will receive another e-mail from us shortly letting you know when we expect the funds to be exhausted, at which point you will need to stop working regardless of whether or not you have earned your full allocation.”
Photo by Shannon Adams, ’16, photo editor
But, on March 20, an email was sent to work study students from Maureen O’Mara Carver, executive director of student records and financial services, with an update on work study funds stating that additional aid has been allocated to the program: “In order to resolve the lack of remaining federal funding, so that all students participating in the FWS program can complete work through the spring semester, additional institutional aid has been approved for the remainder of the spring semester.” In an interview, Carver said that this money is from the university, but she does not yet know the amount or the source of
the funds. In the beginning of each fiscal year, the federal government allots Saint Joseph’s University funding for work study as a part of students’ aid packages. This year, St. Joe’s received $587,000 from the federal government and then matched an additional 25 percent of that money, according to Carver. This year, out of the 3,866 students who were offered work study, 1,440 accepted, and out of those, 791 actually worked, according to Carver. Last year, 701 students accepted and used their work study. According to Carver, an increase of 90 students from last year, while using a similar amount of funds, has
Enrollment course caps increased for next fall Larger class sizes cause concern among faculty and students KATRYNA PERERA ’16 Assistant News Editor University Provost Brice Wachterhauser, Ph.D., sent an email on March 6 to all faculty of the university outlining the guidelines for setting course enrollment limits for the fall. For the 2014 fall semester, almost all class sizes will increase. For instance, according to the email, first year seminars will be set at a cap of 25 students per class, Craft of Language and writing intensive courses will be set at 22, history courses will be set at 35, and all lecture based courses for next year are not to drop below 30 students. Additionally, all classes with less than 18 students enrolled will be reviewed by the respective dean, and all sections with eight students or less will be cancelled unless it is a course that is necessary for students to graduate or complete degree work. “My understanding that came from the senior administration is that we have to do this in order to address the financial issues of the university,” said Paul Kleschick, director of the registrar’s office. Robert Moore, Ph.D., assistant professor of sociology and Faculty Senate president, reiterated Kleschick’s point, saying, “It’s a budgetary matter… one way to look at it is that the university is really seeking to maximize the work of professors and instructors.” Photo by Shannon Adams, ’16, photo editor
Continued COURSE CAPS, pg. 3
caused unprecedented issues with the budget. “We watch it every pay period, but what tends to happen is in the early pay periods, a lot of kids will work but they don’t put in their hours. So they sort of build up their hours and then just before spring break, a lot of people put their hours in,” Carver said. “So that’s when we went and we did our projections and our analysis, and that’s when we said we’ve got to put up an alarm, we’ve got to let people know that funds are getting expended much more quickly than expected and we are getting near the bottom of the pot.” Continued WORK STUDY, pg. 3
University implements early retirement package ERIN RAFTERY ’15 News Editor A Voluntary Separation Program (VSP), or a buyout program where employees in an organization can voluntarily participate in early retirement, has been offered to faculty, staff, and administrators who have served for at least 10 continuous years full time at Saint Joseph’s University. Sharon Eisenmann, vice president for human resources, declined to provide target numbers or actual numbers regarding employee participation in the VSP. However, according to Francis Lee, Ph.D., professor of political science and faculty member participating in the VSP, 10 faculty members and 17 staff and administrators participated in the program. According to Lee, this was considered a small number of staff and administrators participating in the VSP compared to the target goal. This is the main concern due to the recent financial climate at the university.
Continued VSP, pg. 4