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Loyola’s SGA election season begins

SGA Cabinet poses for a photoshoot on St. Charles Ave. Courtesy of Nick Keen

By Alana Frank anfrank@my.loyno.edu

Financial aid gets new staff, hopes to improve Student walks into Thomas Hall on March 11 after Loyola’s Financial Aid staff was replaced by another company, Higher Education Assistance Group. Sophia Renzi /The Maroon

By Mary Ella Hastings mlhastin@my.loyno.edu

As the new financial aid staff makes themselves at home in Thomas Hall, the administration hopes that the shake up will result in students getting their financial aid packages earlier. The financial aid staff has been replaced by a consultant called Higher Education Assistance Group. Administrators said the former financial aid staff did not have the resources to navigate the modern financial aid system. The new staff members will be in person in Thomas Hall available for students who need help; the staff started in the office last week. Anthony Jones, Loyola’s vice president of enrollment, said that the university needed a company that understands how to work with the student body and the enterprise software system the university’s adopted. “The institution did not have the resources necessary in order to help that staff, or an additional four people, to get what they needed in order to be able to affect the system and the change that the system needed. The university just wasn’t resourced,” he said. Jones said the system needs constant attention to ensure that it is programmed correctly. “This group, we wanted to ensure, had good or rather solid Colleague knowledge,” Jones said. Student impact Jones said he wanted to make certain that the interaction with the financial aid office remained the same. The phone number and email for the office will stay the same.

With these updates, Jones feels confident that financial aid packages and billing statements will be sent out to students sooner. “We believe that we are on track to start getting those out as early as April with the help of this new team,” he said. But Jones emphasized the importance of students completing their FAFSA in order to receive their financial aid in a timely manner. “Right now, as I look at the FAFSA completion rate of the institution, our student body is only at 44%,” Jones said. The lone financial aid employee Loyola retained is Kimberly Renkins, an administrative assistant. Staffing changes Jones said the administration had to make the change to grow efficiently and improve their ability to process aid and respond to students. So that meant increasing the capability of the staff. “You cannot make a decision with the lives of individuals, like staff members that were involved in this. Without ensuring that it is done with a full comprehension and view of our Jesuit understanding and principles,” Jones said. Jones said they spent a lot of time talking about what the transition would look like, and how they would do that in the most humanistic way possible. “As you read in the email we wanted to give the team as much support as we could, as they were making this transition. Helping them to land on their feet as best as possible going forward,” he said. Jones said his office did not tell the former staff a change was coming even as he was shopping for a new option. He said they were not trying to be “nefarious” but

needed to go that route to ensure continuity of operations. “One of the challenges that we had with financial aid here at Loyola is the ability to be as accurate and clear about the financial aid accounts of our students, and that has come through some of the challenges that we’ve had with our data here on campus,” Jones said. Jones said these changes should reduce these issues. He added that the consultants specialize in the system Loyola uses. “I think that this team is going to help us to be able to help our students know more about financial aid options they might have,” Jones said. Jones added that making the needed changes would not be possible within the former structure. “If we had decided that we wanted to invest in a number of staff, and upgrade the staff, we still had the issue of the system. And that staff’s ability to be able to do all of the kinds of things in the system that was needed in order to get it where it needed to be,” Jones said. Jones said ultimately the institution did not have the resources necessary. “The most economical way that we could get all that we needed to get done, without spending the money of doubling the staff, was to outsource,” Jones said. Jones said the new system will cost the university more. “We are looking at this as an investment institution, not a quick fix,” Jones said. Student reaction While Jones feels confident this change will benefit the university, students are unsure about how the change

will affect them. Jacob Hutter, a senior hip hop and r&b and philosophy major said it’s hard to tell if the new outsourcing system will be helpful or not. “I don’t trust the administration generally. I know that a lot of these sorts of maneuvers are in order to make the university more ‘profitable’, Hutter said. Jacob said he does worry about what the university’s motives are and he’s unsure how it will affect the students. “I worry about how it’s affected the staff that got fired and the lack of transparency that has been a reoccurring issue with this administration,” Hutter said. Jones said that transparency is very important to him and he hopes that students will feel the extra work they put in to be clear and transparent. “We took a great deal of time to think about how we wanted to communicate about this process. One of the things that we want to be a hallmark of the enrollment management division here is transparency,” Jones said. Jones also said they are not planning on paying for these services on the backs of students but there might have to be changes made and they are still examining what that could look like. Jones welcomes any comments or feedback from students about how it’s going, because he said he wants to constantly make this process better, because he sees the students as the customer. “We wanted to do what was true to our ideals, and I think we worked really hard to do a process that was true to who we are as a Jesuit institution,” Jones said.

Students at Loyola University New Orleans will soon have the chance to run for positions in the university’s Student Government Association as the annual election process begins this March. The elections give students the opportunity to represent their peers and advocate for student concerns within the university’s leadership. Applications for candidates opened March 6 and will close March 13. After candidates are notified on March 16, campaigning will run from March 23 through April 14. Students will vote between April 13 and April 16, and results will be announced April 17 during the university’s Crawfish in the Quad event. SGA plays an important role on campus by representing the student body and communicating student concerns to faculty, staff, and university administrators. Leadership positions include president, vice president,senators at large (SALs), Chief of Staff, and leadership in different departments within the organization, each with different responsibilities that help the organization function and serve students. Current SGA President Nicholas Keen said the main responsibility of the president is to advocate for students in spaces where major decisions are made. “The whole point of the SGA president is to be the student advocate for faculty, staff, and higher representation,” Keen said. “I sit on the board of trustees for the year and serve on most committees on campus to make sure the student voice is heard.” In addition to representing students, the president helps oversee SGA’s operations and works closely with the organization’s cabinet to delegate responsibilities and manage projects. Keen described his experience in the role as rewarding but sometimes challenging, especially when balancing leadership duties with being a full-time student. “Being a student should always take precedence,” Keen said. “Learning how to manage my time and separate friendships from leadership responsibilities was one of the hardest parts.”

See SENATORS, page 12