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The relocation of the student services offices has had a great effect
on students and staff.
Student services, including financial aid, registration and the business
office, had to move to the college center and the Town and Gown room
to accommodate students while the Ash Mountain project is still incomplete.
The relocation caused much confusion among students trying to organize
their financial aid. “People don’t know where things are even
though we have signs up,” said Student Employment Coordinator Cat
Parish.
Once students found the offices, they were greeted by a line of tired,
impatient students. “It’s very uncomfortable for the students,”
said Parish. “They used to be able to sit while they waited and
we would call them by number, but now they have to stand in this hallway.”
“I didn’t even wait in line,” said student Eula Locatte.
“I just went up to the person I needed to talk to.” She has
been going to MHCC for four years and said that this is the longest
she ever had to wait.
But the business office upstairs in the town and Gown room was some
improvement with helping students. “Up there where you pick up
the checks, you were in and out like that,” said Locatte. “We’re
getting people in and out rather quickly,” said business office
secretary Kimberly Hutchinson. This difference in wait tiem could be
attributed to the lower frequency of students for the business office.
“There’s no big rush,” said Hutchinson. “We have
a trickle of students all year.”
But students are not the only ones facing change during this transitional
stage. The temporary facilities have closer work spaces and smaller
storage areas. “We used to order three boxes of paper at a time,
and now we can only order one,” said Parish. She also said that
the traffic areas are too tight and inconvenient “There’s
a lot of ‘excuse me, pardon me’,” she said. Despite the
inconveniences, there have been no delays in filing and sending paper
work. “We are working as fast and hard as we can,” said Parish
The staff of the student services offices will be able to move into
their new offices some time in early November. “We’ll be really
happy, for the student’s sake to move into the other place,”
said Parish.
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