Friday Feature • SRFS & FAFSA Warriors

Friday, April 12, 2024

I have been in higher education for twenty years and just when I thought I have seen it all, some new surprise seems to come up that keeps you on your toes.

Changes to the FAFSA has all colleges and universities in a tailspin. This important application determines how much federal financial aid students are eligible for, a critical piece in the package we send to students as they consider which college to attend and how they will pay for their education.

National changes to the form delayed the availability for students to apply for aid, which has subsequently delayed our ability to send them a financial aid plan. Finally the time is here and our employees in Student Records and Financial Services (SRFS) are as busy as they can be preparing thousands of financial aid offers to currently enrolled and newly accepted students who have completed a FAFSA.

To put this into perspective, imagine a delay to our learning system preventing us from teaching classes, and when it comes back online, we now need to condense a 15-week course into three weeks. The only way to achieve such a thing is with amazing workers who support one another and are willing to focus and dedicate their time and effort to the cause of helping our students.

This is exactly what is occurring at this very moment in our SRFS office.

Another first for me is witnessing how they have come together as a team, so we can be one of the first SUNY colleges to send financial aid offers to students.

Like any of our major efforts on campus, it takes a village! 

Zeda Thomas in technology services was a rock star in writing our programs to process the new FAFSA data. Laura George in admissions is assisting with financial aid appointments and testing. And Molly Andrus in marketing is able to use variable data to quickly produce the financial aid plans when ready, including an innovative design that helps explain all of the information. 

These individuals deserve not only my praise but all of our praises. Please share your appreciation with the people listed below if you happen to see them and thank them for the tremendous work they are doing!