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OUDAILY
The University of Oklahoma’s independent student voice since 1916
COUNTY ELECTION • 3
Bursar debt serious for international students
Eighteen students with enrollment holds face possible deportation JANA ALLEN @jana_allen21
Eighteen of OU’s international students will be faced with the possibility of deportation if they
don’t pay off their bursar debt by this Friday, including one who is a senior and only needs three classes to graduate. The student, who wished to remain unnamed due to the nature of the situation, said she was not aware of the consequences of having an outstanding balance until January when she tried to enroll for the semester.
Now, if she doesn’t come up with $20,000, she will lose her visa status, losing the ability to work in the United States and be a student. “So our plan was first to talk to President Gallogly,” the student said. “(His assistant said) that he has no time. And so that’s when I asked, ‘So you’re telling me that people that are facing
deportation are not a priority at all?’ And she said, ‘I don’t know what to tell you.’” L a s t O c t o b e r, 6 , 0 0 0 s t u dents were notified that they could not enroll until they paid off their outstanding balance with the bursar’s office, said Lauren Brookey, OU vice president of marketing and communications. More than 5,500
holds have been resolved now, Brookey said, but there are still 454 students with enrollment holds, 18 of those being international students that rely on student visas to stay in the United States. Brookey said the 18 students in question have the opportunity See BURSAR page 2
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY CAITLYN EPES AND KATHRYN STACY/THE DAILY
Computer science junior Timmy Luong packs an admissions box with confetti Jan. 31. The University of Oklahoma now sends out acceptances with boxes rather than folders.
THINKING INSIDE THE BOX
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OU uses innovative admissions boxes to recruit students
n Buchanan Hall, small brown admission boxes surrounded by confetti are stashed, stacked and stuffed anywhere they can fit as they are being prepared to send to incoming students. Beginning in 2016, the University of Oklahoma switched over from sending acceptances in the standard large folders to boxes, according to Tiffany Haendel, the associate director of communications for the Office of Admissions and Recruitment. Haendel created the idea and designed the admission boxes. She said in the beginning stages of switching, the folders used by many universities shipped as flat packages, and the Office of Admissions and Recruitment was looking to send out something for the same postage rate. “We just started looking at anything and everything, brainstorming and rethinking the process from the ground up,” Haendel said. Haendel said finding the boxes was a big win for the office because they were lightweight and made the postage rate cheaper, sparking the idea to model the acceptances like subscription-style boxes. “We wanted people to feel like when they got their admission decision, it was exciting and an opportunity for them to unpack the experience,” Haendel said. Every incoming student receives a hand-stuffed and personalized admission box. Haendel said what the boxes are filled with changes a little each year. This year the box includes the admission letter, a handsigned card that outlines what is
WHITNEY CLEAR • @WHITNEYCLEAR
in the box, an “OU Bound” pennant, a card from the student’s academic college, information on the student’s next steps post-admission, crinkle paper and, new this year, a cardboard virtual reality headset. “Internationally, and nationally especially, we know that the campus tour is one of the most important things for people’s decision on where to go to college, and we’re always trying to increase access to that,” Haendel said. “We know that not every student has the ability to visit us, so that virtual reality headset has allowed us to bring the campus tour to their door.” With the cardboard virtual reality headset, incoming students will be able to insert their phone and have access to virtual campus tours anywhere they are just by walking around. If students applied in August, they would also receive an extra OU sticker book in their box. There was an increase in summer applicants by 300 students compared to last year, according to Haendel. Haendel said the team wanted the newly admitted students to understand the personal support, academic excellence and family nature of OU in the admission boxes, and these aspects inspired hand-signed components and personalization in the box. “An individual person reads every single application that comes into this office, and an individual person is going to stuff the box,” Haendel said. “Bringing attention to that, I think, really helps with that family feel at OU.” Danielle Dunn, director of communications for admissions
and recruitment, also plays a major role in the creation of the boxes. “We love seeing all of our admitted students take pictures with the ‘OU Bound’ pennant and use the hashtag #OUBound — it’s created this sense of excitement,” Dunn said.
"I feel like we’re bringing that celebration to the student where they are." DANIELLE DUNN , DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS FOR ADMISSIONS AND RECRUITMENT
Dunn said not only are boxes mailed, but some are hand-delivered by admissions counselors to students at their schools, jobs and extracurricular activities. Dunn said deans of academic colleges take part in hand-deliveries as well, like Dean Ed Kelley of Gaylord College. “(Kelley) has been involved in helping us deliver some of the admission boxes along with a lot of the Gaylord alumni, too, so that’s been really fun to see,” Dunn said. “I feel like we’re bringing that celebration to the student where they are, whether that’s in Texas, California or Edmond, Oklahoma.” Haendel said switching over to admission boxes wasn’t easy in terms of working with vendors and designing a new box, but now the system runs smoothly in Buchanan Hall where the boxes are assembled.
Behind the assembly of boxes in Buchanan Hall is staff assistant in admissions and recruitment Tammra Lowery, where part of her job is to get the letters out. “There are a lot more steps to stuffing a box than just putting your letters in the folder, and it took some getting used to,” Lowery said. “We put a lot more in the boxes, so we have to have more space for that than we did the folders, but we love the boxes.” Lowery coordinates and works with student workers who take part in stuffing the boxes, like computer science junior Timmy Luong, who Lowery said is her main assistant when it comes to stuffing the boxes. “I think Tammra approached me last year around September and October when we were starting to get really busy, and I just practiced and got really fast at it, and Tammra really liked the way I stuffed the boxes,” Luong said. Haendel said there are 80 to 120 student workers across the buildings and it depends on the time of year for how many help them, but there are generally two to three that come in each day. She said everyone working in the office has had some hand in helping stuff the boxes. Haendel, who comes from a background in design, said she is very involved with the experiential design and what the unpacking looks like. She and Dunn said they both have taken part in stuffing boxes. According to Haendel, the boxes are very well-received by students. “ We hav e d o n e s u r v e y s with the full admitted student
population, asking them what their experience has been with the box , and those have all been overwhelmingly positive,” Haendel said. “One of the things we asked was, ‘Do you notice that the cards were hand-signed?’ And they overwhelmingly noticed that and appreciate it.” When OU first started sending out admission boxes, it was one of a few schools to do so. “When we started it, there were maybe one or two universities that we saw doing it, but it was pretty rare, and I think it’s changed the game in admissions.” said Haendel. Haendel, admissions and recruitment have been asked to speak at conferences about the boxes, and it’s always well-received, Haendal said. She said now when she hears another university is doing admission boxes, she finds it flattering. “It was not an easy process to switch to this. There was a lot that went into this, and I’m confident that we’ve really thought it through from every angle and created a special experience, instead of just rolling something out for novelty,” Haendel said. “That’s where I think we continue to stay at the front of the competition, because it requires an incredible amount of time and effort and really good marketing professionals brainstorming in a room together to come up with that idea.” Whitney Clear
whitney.clear@ou.edu