After 30 years of serving University of Wisconsin students in need of financial aid, Steve Van Ess, director of the Office of Student Financial Services since 1994, announced he will retire Sept. 1.
During his career, Van Ess and his staff have worked for thousands of UW students by facilitating the financial aid process.
Office of Student Financial Services Assistant Director Susan Fischer said Van Ess always looks for ways to serve students faster, including by providing tools such as computer software, to quicken the financial aid application process.
As a result, financial aid is reviewed more quickly and awards are sent in March or early April, months earlier than the years before Van Ess’ leadership, Fischer said.
“It is an accomplishment, given we do not have much [funding],” Fischer said. “And I think it is [Van Ess’] biggest accomplishment from the perspective of students who [utilize] the financial aid.”
Van Ess said one of his major accomplishments was increasing the number of students receiving financial aid over the past 10 years, even though the enrollment rate has stayed the same. Ten years ago, he said, approximately 17,000 students were awarded with financial aid totaling $114 million. Today, the number of students receiving financial aid increased to approximately 22,000 and the dollar amount increased to $225 million.
However, Van Ess said the financial aid is mostly loan money as opposed to student grants. It raises the issue of the declining enrollment of lower income students along with the significant increase of tuition fee in the recent years, he said.
“We have been making efforts to increase the number of low income students on our campus, but it is an unfinished project [upon my retirement],” Van Ess said. “There are still a lot of things to do in this area in the years ahead.”
Van Ess said he is glad his effort has heightened awareness on campus and statewide of the importance of need-based aid and the challenges facing low-income students. Low-income students on campus will increase socioeconomic diversity and the richness of learning, he added.
“It is something my successor has to do,” Van Ess said.
In the years after his retirement, Van Ess said he would like the Office of Student Financial Services to maintain the wide array of financial aid awarded to students and to improve the counseling facility aimed to educate students on how to budget their money wisely.
Fischer, who has been Van Ess’ coworker for 20 years, said his retirement is a loss of a “great friend, colleague and boss.” She said Van Ess is a “wonderful” director and a long time financial professional who is committed to helping students financially, especially those who are in need.
Upon his retirement, Van Ess has many plans he will pursue with his wife, who will retire around the same time this fall.
