In the February 19 issue of The Chronicle, University sophomore and The Chronicle’s assistant entertainment editor Ryan Broderick’s weekly comic depicted a notorious experience for students at the University: the Hofstra Shuffle.
According to Broderick, he came across the term after spending some time on urbandictionary.com, a site where users define commonly used slang words or terms.
The site explains that the Hofstra Shuffle is the process a student at the University is “forced to go through” when those who “work in the Student Accounts building lose FAFSA information,” when “[University] staff loses housing information,” when the employees “withdraw students” on accident and when “they forget to apply your scholarship money.”
Ultimately, what Broderick interpreted the Shuffle as was portrayed in his cartoon, where a student begins his quest for information in the Student Accounts department and is then directed to Financial Aid, but Financial Aid advises the student to go back to Student Accounts, and the process continues. The result of these transactions is a shuffle of sorts.
Broderick has experienced the shuffle himself, as a student who relies heavily on financial aid and who requires quick loan refunds to pay his off-campus rent.
“I just got so fed up [with being shuffled around] that I said, ‘I’m just going to make fun of this now,'” Broderick said. “Then someone told me my cartoon was on display in Student Accounts.”
And on display, it is in the new office inside Memorial Hall, Student Financial Services.
Broderick’s cartoon caught the eye of Jessica Eads, vice president for Enrollment and dean of Admission and Financial Aid, and she promptly decided the glitch in the system needed fixing.
“We talked about the redesign [of the department] for a long time, then Ryan’s cartoon brought to light how students feel,” Eads said.
As explained by Eads, Student Financial Services is the combination of three departments, the Office of Financial Aid, the Office of the Bursar and the Office of Academic Records. With the establishment of one central department, Eads said, a student should never have to deal with any one of the three departments, but will instead work with one single Student Financial Services counselor. That counselor will be able to access students’ information from all three offices.
“That first obvious change we made eliminates the shuffle,” Eads said.
Those are not just simple renovations going on inside the upper level of Memorial Hall, either. According to Eads, the University is aiming to make the Student Financial Services suite, “a friendlier environment for students,” where they can talk with counselors, hang out with friends and even eat lunch.
The walls will be re-painted brighter colors, the chairs will be replaced with more comfortable ones and the computers will be available as a self-serve option.
“We don’t want people to only be there when it’s a miserable experience,” Eads said.
Internally, the new department will hinge on new staff training, according to Teri Cox, director of Student Financial Services. “Since we have streamlined everything, it’s just a matter of getting the staff used to how students ask questions,” she said. “So far, it’s working.”
However, when it comes to carrying out the one-stop-shop ideology, Student Financial Services’ essential need is student feedback. According to Eads, the department needs to know the best way to communicate with students, get a feel for what the students really want from the department and get concrete examples of what students really experienced in the Hofstra Shuffle.
“We need students to give ideas,” Eads said, “and we need to more information about the negative things.”
Ideally, Eads would like to create a student focus group for the new department, which would allow students to create a Student Bill of Rights, identify concerns and advise on solutions, offer feedback on future improvements to the department and provide a review of Student Self Service, the Hofstra Online option.
A Student Financial Services advisory group has been developed. Students interested in joining the advisory group or offering any form of help in developing the department, contact [email protected] with information.
According to Eads, the success of the Student Financial Services department is truly in the hands of the students. “We’ve heard from the students who frequent the Student Financial Aid department and the Pride Guides who administered surveys,” she said, “but the regular students who we haven’t heard from, we need to know what will help them.”
Broderick, who said he will “help in anyway,” is excited about the change, which he did not even know was happening thanks to his cartoon.
“These are the people who need to help the kids who can’t afford to go here,” Broderick said. “If [the University] is actually going to change things, then that will finally be a step forward that we really need.
“We understand, especially in this economy, that it is our responsibility to manage funding,” Eads said. “Students should never have to shuffle again.”