As the end of the semester quickly approaches, campus experts say there are many items students must address before the end of the year. From academic advising, to protecting bicycles on campus during the break, students need to prioritize some important responsibilities in addition to their academic workload.
Advising – Academic Advisor Kristy Kulhanek, Department of Communication
Registration: “If students wait until open registration it can be more challenging, but it is also not impossible. Pre-registration is just a privilege that the university gives students, so with holds on your account that is your privilege being taken away from you but you can register during open registration. The biggest benefit of open registration is once students start dropping courses, you can snag a seat in some of those courses that are harder to get into, and typically restrictions are taken off of some of those courses during open registration.”
Setting appointments: “We always recommend students visit their advisors at least once per semester but twice a semester in my opinion is ideal. We are the busiest during the first week of the semester and during pre-registration.
Transfer credits: “It’s always a good idea to transfer credits as you go and just to make sure you constantly know how many hours you have and where those credits are counting in your degree evaluation.”
Preparing for dorm move out – Associate Director for Residence Education Christine Thoorsell, Residence Life and Housing
4. Caring for valuables: “We encourage students to secure their valuables or take them home with them, just as a safety precaution. We also encourage students to remove valuables, specifically electronics, from the floor because occasionally when we have extremely low temperatures we have had pipes burst which could cause flooding in the room.”
5. Meetings and closing notice: “You should have attended your RA floor meeting. If not, visit with your RA as soon as possible to get the information you need. Students also need to read the closing notice in their email and their student housing portal, which provides all the directions of things they need to do to prepare for the winter break. The university apartments, the Gardens and White Creek, do not close for the winter break but all the residence halls do close on Dec. 14 at 5:30 p.m.”
6. Take home pet fish: “Everything in the dorms need to be unplugged so if students have aquariums or fish in bowls, we really encourage them to make fish sitting arrangements for their fish. Our buildings get very cold during the winter break and the temperatures will be too low for the fish to survive.”
Protecting property – Alternative Transportation Manager Ron Steedly, Transportation Services
7. Avoiding theft: “With the slowed activity, thieves tend to canvas campus during break periods. Winter break is longer than most break periods and the university is closed for a portion of the break so the chances of having property stolen is higher. Ideally, bicycles, like any other personal property that has value, should not be left on campus during breaks in publicly accessible areas. Those living on campus should store their bicycle in their dorm/apartment room. Those living off campus should take their bicycle to their residence and store it indoors if possible. If leaving a motor vehicle, please be sure to keep any contents hidden from view or, preferably, remove it from the vehicle and store it in your dorm and/or apartment to minimize smash and grab opportunity thefts.”
Scholarships and Financial Aid – Assistant Vice President Delisa Falks, Scholarships and Financial Aid Office
8. FAFSA, TAFSA, Scholarships: “The financial aid application opened Oct.1. it is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). There priority date for completion is March 15, 2018. We highly encourage students to complete their application now, so if we request additional information from them that they will have time to get it submitted early enough so that when we have awarding next spring we will have everything in place. The Texas Application for State Aid (TAFSA) is also available for those students who cannot complete the FAFSA, due to being a foreign student or non-citizen. Our University Scholarship Application is open right now as well, which is our scholarship application for continuing undergraduate, graduate and professional students. This application closes on Feb. 1, 2018.”
9. Graduating students: “We will be sending out exit letters to student loan borrowers, to give them information on repayment options for their student loans. There is an exit counseling they can do online that tells them about loan repayment responsibilities and the different types of loan repayment programs they can choose, what to expect and making sure their addresses are up to date with their loan holders. … Graduating students who have borrowed student loans will be sent emails about student loan repayment sessions that are scheduled for December.”
10. Satisfactory academic progress review: “After grades post we run a satisfactory academic progress review for every student. It is very important for students to check their financial aid portal and the emails we send out, to see if they have been put on a warn status, which means they can get their financial aid in the spring; however, they need to work on their academic progress to ensure they don’t lose their financial aid at the end of spring. Students who have lost financial aid aid due to unsatisfactory academic progress will also be notified and given information about an appeals process.”