Published: September 24, 2009

Some Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) students are angry, and rightfully so. More and more problems with the financial aid services offered by the school are coming to light. According to Ray Walsh’s article, “Ex-Students ‘Angry’ Over Financial Services Miscommunications,” multiple students were forced to transfer or drop out of school because of a lack of communication from financial services.

Any student or parent who has called financial services for assistance knows that a wait, whether moderate or well over an hour in length, is in store. The sheer number of incoming calls for the enrollment group, the office that encompasses financial services, reaches 172,000 every single year. Accounting for weekends and holidays, Fordham University is open 242 days a year, meaning there are over 700 calls per day coming into the enrollment group office. There could be as many as 25 people fielding these calls, or as few as four, and the people answering the phones may not be equipped or authorized to handle each particular student’s case. Statistics compiled by the enrollment group claim that 8 percent of these calls are disconnected, which may seem like a small percentage, but it means that just under 17,000 calls a year are being ignored.

We, the students, are confused. We’ve been hearing a lot of promises, like Fordham’s claim that we will each be offered the same amount of aid we were offered in the 2008-2009 school year. Many of us know that this promise wasn’t realized until it was too late. We also hear that tuition was only increased by 4.6 percent, an impressive feat compared to other schools, but an increase nonetheless. Where is the money going? Our library hours are shortened; our student-worker opportunities are disappearing; our elevators are in disrepair. For the price we are paying, the library should be open 24/7. Students should be able to work as often as their class schedule allows. There is no reason that McMahon Hall residents should fear riding the elevators to their apartments.

Not only has tuition increased, but the price tag on the dorm rooms is also sporting a higher number. It seems that, with more money flowing into the school, elevators would be repaired in a timely manner, and the laundry rooms wouldn’t flood quite so often. Budget cut-backs may also be to blame for the dirty condition of many of our dorm rooms when we moved in at the end of August. And for commuters, the higher subway fare and an overall increase in the price of food contributes to worry and anxiety about paying for things like textbooks.

Perhaps we don’t understand the true cost of all of these things. Maybe there are things we don’t realize add up, like paying security guards and computer lab attendants. Fordham, we want to understand. Our money is disappearing and things are becoming worse. As integral members of the Fordham family, don’t we deserve some budget transparency?