The Student Association Senate unanimously approved a resolution to make the Student Financial Aid Office more student–friendly.

Sen. Matthew Venaas, the resolution’s sponsor, said three student complaints about the office repeatedly have surfaced.

The first complaint Venaas mentioned was the difficulty of the office’s Web site.

“If you knew what you were looking for, if you knew what you were there for, you could find it,” Venaas said. “But if you were looking on the Web site for general information or [to] find out about how financial aid works, it’s very difficult to get around.”

Another complaint, Venaas said, was students’ struggle to communicate their difficulties with the Student Finanical Aid Office staff.

The resolution would encourage the financial aid office to reorganize its Web site to make it easier for students, to provide a means for students to relay feedback to the office staff and to create a checklist for each financial aid document.

Venaas said the checklist would allow students to see what documentation they need and when it is due.

Depite the resolution’s approval, Speaker Robert Batey said it “does not have the full weight of law.” However, Batey said the resolution would be submitted to the Student Financial Aid Office.

“This is not where it ends, but where it starts,” Batey said.

In addition, the senate also approved a resolution expressing support for the NAACP and the Martin Luther King March.

“We need to do the work that needs to be done. This campus has deep problems, and we need to address them,” Batey said. “We need to take a look at what needs to be done and not retreat from the challenge, but rise above it.”

Batey also commended the NAACP for its work “to solve problems that are here on campus.”

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