Delivery of student services revamped

By SUE WUETCHER
Reporter Editor

The Office of the Provost has restructured the delivery of some student academic and financial services aimed at simplifying students' access to these services.

As of Jan. 1, Records and Registration, Financial Aid, Student Accounts and the Academic Advisement Center have been merged into one central university student-service structure, the Student Academic and Financial Services unit.

The merger is designed to improve the "student experience" on campus in several important ways, said Sean Sullivan, vice provost for enrollment and planning.

First, it will provide a single point of access to all student academic and financial services, Sullivan said. "The student can call one phone number, use one email address or drop in at one location on the North or South campus to receive the full range of services formerly conducted by the four offices," he said, adding that students will talk with knowledgeable staff every time they contact the unit. "We are determined to eliminate voice-mail attendants, abandoned or unanswered phone calls or emails, and the 'bouncing' of students from office to office."

Having a single contact point for students "takes away the need for students to understand how their problem relates to the university's organizational structure," he stressed, noting that many issues have both academic and financial implications.

For example, dropping a course or changing a major has financial as well as academic repercussions, he said. By having both academic and financial aid advisers in the same office, both issues can be addressed at the same time, he added.

Moreover, by grouping all these services together in one unit, "we can look at the process of how we structure the business of the university for students," he said.

"We are convinced that we can reduce both the staff time and the student time required to complete transactions for students," Sullivan said. "Our objective is to minimize the obstacles students face in getting their 'out-of-classroom' business accomplished and redirect staff time and dollars to extend other services we should be offering.

"All of our efforts are focused on making the experience for students outside of the classroom as friendly and efficient as we can."

Sullivan said the unit has been structured to feature three interdependent functional groups. Although the groups each have different roles, they will share expertise across the unit to address student needs.

The Student Response Center, headed by Joanne Plunkett, formerly university registrar, provides the single point of access to the services, he said. Students initiating transactions or seeking information on such things as paying a tuition bill, submitting financial aid applications, making an appointment with a financial or academic advisor or securing a DARS report should contact the center. The center also is the point of contact for faculty and staff members referring students or seeking information about students.

All calls made to the phone numbers of the former offices of the Registrar, Financial Aid, the Advisement Center or the Bursar automatically are routed to the Student Response Center.

A knowledgeable staff person always answers the phone at the center during published business hours, Sullivan pointed out. "There will be no voice-mail attendants during business hours," he said, adding that email inquiries or phone messages left after business hours are answered within one business day.

Staff members who cannot handle queries themselves refer the inquiries to the appropriate offices and seek an immediate answer from the referral wherever possible.

The center can be reached at 645-2450 or 866-838-7257, toll free, or via email at src@buffalo.edu. In-person inquiries can be made at the drop-in sites in 232 Capen Hall, North Campus, or at the Hayes B counters on the South Campus.

The Advising Services group, directed by Cheryl Taplin, formerly director of the Academic Advisement Center, is staffed by the academic advisors who were located in Norton Hall and most of the financial-aid advisors who were located in 232 Capen or in the Hayes annexes on the South Campus. It handles many of the referrals from the Student Response Center staff, as well as maintains a caseload of undecided student advisees.

Sullivan noted that student academic and financial issues "often intersect in interesting and challenging ways."

"By bringing these advisors together, we can respond more effectively to student problems spanning these areas and create programs and services that pre-empt problems experienced by previous generations of UB students," he said.

The Processing Services function, headed by Nina Kaars, formerly director of the Office of Academic Advisement, brings together all of the academic and financial services processes under one administrative entity.

"This change will allow us to evaluate, streamline and improve the timeliness of each of these processes in the context of a larger vision of student-service delivery," Sullivan said.

Kaars, who also will serve as university registrar, has appointed Shirley Walker, former director of student accounts, as the university's chief financial services officer.

The group is responsible for such things as conducting the course and final exam scheduling process; managing the academic review, mid-semester review, scholarship eligibility and academic eligibility review processes; managing the billing function, and managing the bill paying/cashiering/collections functions with the Student Response Center.

Sullivan emphasized that the new Student Academic and Financial Services unit is "going through a learning experience," and welcomes feedback.

"We encourage people to tell us how we're going, so we can continue to refine the concept," he said. "Our overriding aim is to work better together to provide friendlier, more effective services for our students."