Camille Augustin
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Campus Editor
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News .
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Maya Rhodan
Metro Editor
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Students Put Validation Issues, Purge Process on Blast by Michael Tomlin-Crutchfield Staff Writer For the past three years, the Howard University Student Association has been hosting monthly town halls, titled Put It On Blast, where students can have face-to-face time with administrators to voice their frustrations, provide suggestions and learn how each student services department works. Tuesday night, the 50th administration held its first Put In On Blast discussing financial aid and other financial student services. To address with the students a panel of three area experts including, HUSA executive president, Brandon Harris, Director of Enrollment Management, Sylvester Bell and representative from Student Financial services, Steve Johnson. James Robinson, HUSA’s Director of Student advocacy, moderated the program as he opened by addressing the audience with updates from financial aid and introducing the panelists. The Blackburn gallery lounge was filled with students that wanted to know about other student issues and what was being done about them. Sophomore print journalism major, Carmen Waldrop, came to the program to learn more about the financial aid process. “I just recently got validated and I wanted to know what would be addressed on what financial aid was planning to do to help students out,” said Waldrop. The first topic addressed was the new July 1 purge date, which placed pressure on those who were used to the Aug. 1 date. Bell said that the new date was put in place to help students. “Every semester, Howard purges 400 to 500 students. We set the date earlier to give students time to evaluate where they are financially and take stress of them by not having students sitting in classes worried about getting purged,” said Johnson. “The original date allowed students to come to campus not validat-
Dennis Craig Contributing Photographer
HUSA hosts Put It On Blast, a town hall meeting, where students can address their concerns on campus issues. ed and have them unaware of how they were paying for class while they were in school.” Johnson also added the improvements the July 1 date gave to the department itself. “Validation was up 15 to 20 percent this summer and FAFSA completion was up 28 percent. I believe that the earlier day gave time for students to get their things together before school started. Usually by the first day of classes around 50 percent of the campus is validated, this year we had 74 percent validated and as of now everyone should be validated.” Validated as it is defined today, is a student that has a paid 50 percent of their balance by the date set forth by the university. Students in the audience began to key in on Johnson, when he asked about the customer service in finan-
cial aid and ways that it could be improved. “I don’t believe anything is done
“Every year hundreds of students are not validated and are allowed to go on with balances in excess of 7,000 dollars with nothing being done about it, that’s not acceptable anymore.” - William Roberts, HUSA executive vice president unacceptably, but I will say there is room for improvement,” said Johnson. “We need improvements in technology, bisonweb is not as clear
as it can be and better training is needed.” Johnson also pointed out that seeing more student involvement from student leadership was helpful and Harris acknowledged an improvement needed on both ends. “I believe that their needs to be a holistic knowledge between staff and students so that lines can be cut and students won’t have to run around with misinformation.” Some immediate changes that can be expected are a call management service so that voicemails can properly be received and processed, process scholarships earlier and reevaluate the demands for them. Johnson also touched on a new payment plan system that would allow students to pay over time. “We recognize where we need to improve our services and we are doing that. Things that are not taken
care of in the fall will be addressed by the spring,” said Johnson. Executive vice president, William Roberts, believes that a cultural change is needed on information on paying for school. “Every year hundreds of students are not validated and are allowed to go on with balances in excess of 7,000 dollars with nothing being done about it, that’s not acceptable anymore. We need to figure out a way to change the way we view paying for school early on in college,” said Roberts. “We are trying to launch a HUSA Grants alumni fund, where alumni can provide resources for struggling students. We recognized the need for this on going problem to be addressed which is why we had our first Put It On Blast on the subject, it probably won’t be the last
CPNAHS Council Sets New Agenda to Improve Relationship with Student Body by Chaia Raibon Staff Writer The new student council wants to “reform” the College of Pharmacy, Nursing, and Allied Health Sciences this school year. After studying the needs of their students, the 2010-2011 council has made plans to revive and restore the mission of CPNAHS. Under the platform Reform, they plan to attract more students’ interests as well as get recognized as a resource. Executive president Rebekah Clark, senior health management major, said one of their goals this semester is to get students more in-
volved in their activities. “Students want to get involved but they don’t always know there is an outlet to get involved,” said Clark. She said that their students have to tackle rigorous courses that limit their spare time, but she urges students to participate in this year’s beneficial and informative sessions. Through community service and mentorship programs, the council hopes to unify their students on all levels. Currently they host a weekly-based mentorship program that pairs an upper classman mentor with a freshman mentee with the same major.
Clark hopes this partnership will serve as a support system for their students. “From homework to updates, it’s personalized to the mentors and mentees,” said Clark. The Reform e-board consists of executive vice president Victoria Phifer, secretary Kivon Allen, and treasurer Morenike Badmus. Travan Hurst and Dexter Williams also serve as the school’s UGSA representatives. Due to the large amount of nontraditional students in CPNAHS, the council scheduled events that would fit into any student’s schedule. “We had to find that balance
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with our students between school and things outside of Howard” said Clark. Another issue they wanted to address was the lack of their presence on campus and within the school. Therefore, the council developed monthly “Visibility Days” to ensure students know their faces and positions. The first visibility day was this Wednesday. In addition, Reform has created more career development initiatives for students. They want to enhance students’ awareness of opportunities both on campus and off campus as well as post secondary options. “We are creating a centralized
location for scholarships to help students access scholarships and know when internships are coming up,” said Clark. Phifer, senior health management major, wants to encourage students to support and trust their council this year. “We want CPNAHS students to know that council is here for them and that as a council we are very transparent and accessible. All students should feel like they can contribute to the direction and activities of our college.” Reform has plans to collaborate with other colleges on special events and programs.
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