John A. Logan College Student Services Newsletter May 2009 "We are a diverse learning and teaching community committed to improving individual life and society through highquality, accessible educational programs and engaged learning opportunities.”
Admissions Terry Crain-Dean for Student Services
Beginning Sumer 2009, John A. Logan College will be partnering with Higher One, a financial services company focused solely on higher education to bring a new method for receiving refunds to all John A. Logan College students, the JALC OneCard. This will be their ticket to a faster refund. All refunds-Pell, loans, Financial Aid, dropped classes, etc.-will be given out through a debit card called the JALC One Card. This is NOT A CREDIT CARD! The new JALC OneCard is designed to provide students with increased choices when it comes to receiving their financial aid or school refunds, including the preferred "Easy Refund" method. Easy Refund is by far the fastest and easiest way to gain access to their refund money- - Literally the same day John A. Logan College releases it. You can visit jalconecard.com to learn more about all the great benefits that accompany the students allnew JALC OneCard.
We wanted to cut the ribbon on our new Student Services Multimedia page. Since we use many avenues to contact students we tried to collect them all in one place to make it easier to receive our information. Phillip Lane has masterfully crafted this for us in a awesome format. We will soon link this to pages in all of our Student Service areas but I wanted to give you a look at our idea. We had to learn new words like blog, RSS, twitter, skype, etc. Hope this helps in keeping everyone up-to-date with information from our area!
http://www.jalc.edu/studentservices/multimedia.php
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Remember that we will again have the summer Junior Honors Program for our eleven in-district high schools. This is a program designed for high school juniors to allow them to pursue college course work while still in high school between their junior and senior years. Two juniors from each of our eleven district high schools will be chosen by their high school counselors to attend John A. Logan College during the summer semester. The College will provide a tuition and fee waiver to the two highest ranked students from each school who meet the criteria and who want to start their college education early. Contact Terry Crain for details. Placement and Career Development Lisa Hudgens-Director
Student Success Center Christy McBride-Director
Spring is finally here…..and we can all feel it. April is a very busy month for us. Not only are we registering our students for the summer and fall semesters, but we are also assisting our spring students with current classes and any other issues that arise. Disability Support Services staff have been attending IEP meetings and conducting workshops for potential students in various special education programs throughout our district. In addition, one of our professional tutors recently returned from the National Tutoring Association annual conference in Salt Lake City, UT, with new ideas for our future on-line tutor training program. Our educational workshops provided each semester are coming to a close, with one topic remaining. Finally, TRIO staff continue to mentor their students as the end of the semester approaches.
It’s already the middle of April and that means that students are getting ready to graduate and/ or move on to a four year university. As students leave, several on-campus student employment positions will become available for both the summer and fall semesters. If you have a student that is interested in working on campus either this summer or fall, now is the time to apply. Several departments have already started posting the openings within their departments for both semesters. If a student would like an on-campus student work position, he/she will need to contact the Placement and Career Development Office to request an application. Our department would be happy to mail one to the student if it isn’t convenient to stop by and pick one up. Potential students may also access the web page and download an application. In addition to completing the application, a student will need to have a FAFSA on file. All student workers are required to be enrolled in classes at John A. Logan College. Students must carry 6 hours in the summer and a minimum of 12 hours in the fall and spring semesters. If you have any additional questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at (618) 985-2828 ext 8527.
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Advisement Bob Fester-Director
Currently academic advisers are working with both traditional students and bus loads of students from our district high schools. Students are now able to register for both summer and fall semester classes, which is somewhat time-consuming, but the advisors have worked hard to keep advisement traffic flowing and on time. Recently contingents from Carterville High School, Marion High School, Murphysboro High School and Herrin High School have come out as a group to visit the campus and sign up for summer and fall classes. The demand for internet-based classes continues to increase. Speculation as to the reason for the trend includes convenience and the high price of gas. Those students who plan to take vacations during the summer and cannot attend many of the required classes find the internet course option to be useful.
Admissions Lauralyn Cima-Director of Registrar Services
We are now in the process of completing our high school orientation program and I believe it was a rousing success. We registered over 300 new students from seven different high schools in our district. The students were given tours of the campus and spoke with representatives from Financial Aid, Student Services, and the Foundation Office. It is a lot of work for the high schools to coordinate and corral all the students, but I think it is well worth the effort for all the information the students receive. As always, if the guidance counselors have any suggestions to improve this activity, please let me know. I also wanted all the guidance counselors to know that we are making changes with how we handle dual credit/dual enrollment students who have previously attended JALC. We are now requiring ALL students, even those who have previously completed courses at the College to fill out a new application when they plan to attend John A. Logan College as a college freshman. We are finding that we are missing crucial information when we rely on applications that were completed when the students were freshman or sophomores in high school. We also ask that updated high school transcripts are submitted when students begin registering for their classes as college freshman. This way we can insure that students are being accurately advised and placed in proper majors. Thank you to all the high school counselors that work so closely with the Admissions Department to help make the transition from high school senior to college freshman a success. 3
Student Activities Adrienne Barkley GiffinDirector of Student Activities & Cultural Events
The John A. Logan College Community Band seeks members from all over southern Illinois including high school students. Their summer concert is scheduled for Sunday, August 2 at 3:00pm in the conference center and admission is free. Anyone interested in joining the band for the summer should contact Bob Swearingen at bobswearingen@jalc.edu. Those interested in joining in the fall should contact Mike Hanes at hanes@siu.edu.
The 2009-2010 Performance Series is shaping up nicely! The final series lineup will be announced in July, but here is the calendar to date:
Mike Snider String Band: Bluegrass Friday, February 12 7:00pm
BREAK! The Urban Funk Spectacular: Break Dancers and Beat Boxer Thursday, September 3 Lecture/demonstration at 12:00pm Performance at 7:00pm
Touring Production: Artist to Be Announced Friday, March 19 Lecture/workshop at 12:00pm Concert at 7:00pm JALC Spring Musical: Title to Be Announced Directed by Nathan Arnett Dates to Be Announced
JALC Production: Title to Be Announced Directed by Mike Seagle Friday & Saturday, October 2 & 3 7:00pm Rave On! A Tribute to the Music of Buddy Holly Tuesday, October 20 7:00pm JALC Holiday Production: Title to Be Announced Directed by Nathan Arnett Friday & Saturday, December 11 & 12 7:00pm Touring Production: Artist to Be Announced Friday, January 29 7:00pm JALC Production: Title to Be Announced Directed by Mike Seagle Friday & Saturday, February 5 & 6 7:00pm
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Financial Aid Sherry Summary-Director
It is very important that all students who are planning on attending college during the 2009/2010 academic year fill out the FAFSA NOW! The Financial Aid Office at John A. Logan has received official notice from the Illinois Student Assistance Commission that it has suspended funding for financial aid applications submitted after April 18, 2009 for the IIA Grant. Anyone applying after this date will not be able to benefit from this grant because they have already ran out of funds. The IIA Grant is for freshman students who have a 0 EFC number as calculated by the Department of Education from the FAFSA information. The Illinois Student Assistance Commission has also informed us that the MAP Grant could be suspended as soon as the end of May 2009. Students should submit their applications as soon as possible in order to qualify for the tuition waiver that the MAP Grant provides. Students qualifying for the MAP Grant will benefit because the PELL Grant would not have to pick up the tuition cost and the student could possibly benefit by receiving a cash refund if they qualify for both grants.
Assessment Tom Cardwell-Director Compass testing for students planning to register for Summer or Fall classes is continuing on Monday (late afternoon and evenings), and mornings on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Due to the rush of prospective students wanting to register now, testing will also be scheduled on Wednesday afternoons at 1pm though May 13, 2009. Testing using the Asset test (which is timed) instead of Compass (which is untimed) may also be completed at the Duquoin and West Frankfort Extension Centers. Students should call for appointments.
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