Memorandum/ Reflection

MEMORANDUM

TO: John Gonzalez, Head of the Financial Aid Office

FROM: Rahmah Hussein, Student at the City College of New York

DATE: September 6, 2017

SUBJECT: Increase Staff at the Financial Aid Office

The financial aid office is where all the students receive help with their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), or other questions they have regarding finances. It is very important that when a student waits to be called with their ticket, they are given efficient assistance without having to wait an extended period.

Students in CCNY are always troubled with the FAFSA application, TAP application, or papers regarding their tax returns that are needed for other applications. There are many days where students are waiting for up to four hours just to be called due to the amount of tickets given out in a day. The end of the summer and the beginning of Fall are times when the entire office is overfilled. Students have a tough time waiting near the financial aid office which is down the hall from the admissions area. They are willing to wait for hours and maybe even miss their class but the staff rush through the ticket numbers if a student isn’t near. Due to this issue, students have something else to stress about causing students to miss important notes, anxiety, and aggression. This must be taken seriously to help every student in need of assistance.

In the Summer, staff in the financial aid office is very limited causing an overflow of students to wait for a very long time. The number of staff members must increase to lessen the number of students waiting. In addition, hiring more workers in the office will help students call instead of going through a long commute. For instance, when a student goes through two to three hours of transportation to only remove a hold on their account, that was forbidding the student from registering for classes, the student can just call to make it more convenient for them and for the staff. There should be flyers around campus for hiring positions and must not be only for students that are eligible for work study, but for all students.

If there were more staff members in the financial aid office, students will benefit as well as the workers themselves. Please contact me at rahmahhussein@gmail.com to have a meeting and discuss further with this issue. Thank you for your time and attempt into making the financial aid office a beneficial setting for students to gain the assistance they need.

Rahmah Hussein

English 21003, Section M

Professor Matyakubova

6 September 2017

Memorandum Reflection

            Before composing my memorandum, I was trying very hard to think of a decent topic. After coming up with the topic of the financial aid office, I thought about what the solution could possibly be. The solution was a bit difficult but is reasonable enough to help the issue that I wrote about. While composing my memo, I implemented skills I’ve had with writing emails. In a way, emails are basically miniature memorandums. However, it was slightly challenging writing a long email.

            I don’t remember if I’ve ever composed a memo before. That might be a reason why I took longer to create a memo. Also, when I was thinking of a topic for the memo, I remembered incidents that happened recently. I thought of what the worst thing about City College could be and that was the first thing that popped up in mind. My memorandum must have errors such as too much description or not enough details for a solution. Nevertheless, writing memos is a wonderful way to develop writing skills that are required for future careers.