The Academic Affairs committee is tweaking the final details for their highly anticipated weeklong event to help students fill out their federal financial aid forms.
Free Application for Federal Student Aid week, planned for April 19 through April 23, will provide interested students with many opportunities to get help filling out the forms from experienced staff from the Financial Aid office on campus.
The kickoff sessions for the event will be in the Ogg Residence Hall computer lab and aim to help students fill out the FAFSA from start to finish, with step-by-step help along the way.
For the remainder of the week, various hour-long walk-in sessions will be held on the fourth floor of the Student Activity Center on East Campus Mall for students to stop by to ask any questions about the FAFSA process.
According to Academic Affairs intern Zach Ivins, students only have to sign up for Monday sessions due to limited space and computer availability.
The event is free to students and will be a helpful tool in completing the FAFSA, so the committee hopes there will be a high turnout for the event.
The committee plans to spend the days leading up to the FAFSA week promoting the event by spreading awareness through a Facebook group, chalking, flyers and paper advertisements.
Academic Affairs is also finalizing plans to institute a Shared Governance committee to maintain the affordability of textbooks and class materials for students.
After drafting a petition to faculty members, the committee members are in the process of meeting with professors to sign the petition and support the formation of the Textbook Affordability Committee.
The committee has made no further progress on the petition since their last meeting, though they are looking to send an “e-mail blast” to University of Wisconsin faculty.
To build the new committee, Academic Affairs must have it approved by the Faculty Senate and is looking to get on a senate meeting agenda in the near future.
“We want to be on the [Faculty Senate] agenda within the next two to three weeks,” Academic Affairs Chair Jonah Zinn said.
To supplement the work the committee is doing for affordability on campus, they are also working on Student for Student Volunteer Facilitation, which would connect students with volunteer activities both on and off campus.
Peter Lorenz, Academic Affairs intern, said the resources available for students seeking regular volunteer work are not meeting the demand.
While similar resources are available through the Morgridge Center, the Academic Affairs services would be in addition to those.
The committee’s services would provide students with more options by connecting them with other organizations on campus they did not previously know about.
The committee is reaching out to all groups that host and take part in service activities to create a database for students as well as an online calendar of events to help increase awareness.
“It’s not only going to help out students, but it’s going to help a large number of smaller orgs, too,” Lorenz said.
Correction:This article originally stated FAFSA week was to be in May, but the correct dates are April 19 through April 23. We regret the error.
