Suffolk’s Student Government Association (SGA) focused its March 25 meeting on students’ financial services.
Jennifer Ricciardi spoke to senators about financial services and the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
The FAFSA application for the 2021-2022 school year is open now, and the Office for Student Financial Services is encouraging students to get their applications finished before bills for tuition and housing go out this summer.
Ricciardi said that if students need help filling the FAFSA out, they can set up an appointment with their assigned financial aid counselor. SGA requested materials from the Student Financial Services office to help share the information with the student body directly.
Jamie Bondar from the Center for Learning and Academic Success (CLAS) came to the meeting to discuss tutoring that CLAS offers.
Bondar said tutoring is being offered for more than 400 courses this academic year. He said that even if a class is not listed, CLAS may still have a tutor who can help because they have taken the class but didn’t feel it was important to mention, or have taken similar classes.
The only thing not offered by CLAS directly are foreign language tutors, which are instead offered by the World Languages and Cultural Studies department.
Tutoring hours have been expanded to account for students studying remotely around the world, and now go from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, Monday through Friday.
Treasurer Angela El Jazzar invited Mardochee Sylvestre, the president of Suffolk’s Black Student Union (BSU), to the meeting to approve a request for $7,300 for a workshop done by a Suffolk University Alumni, Crystal Chandler, sponsored by BSU and the Suffolk program for low income and first-generation students, Upward Bound. The event would teach students about the power of affirmations and the importance of storytelling, according to Sylvestre.
The request was approved by senators, and more information about the event will be released at a later date.
SGA is currently sending around a survey about how students feel about making the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory or not on campus.
