Bursar’s Office and the Financial Aid Office here at Herkimer County Community College both give students help when it comes to dealing with money issues. However, some students ask the questions “Why aren’t these two offices combined into one office?” and “Don’t they both basically do the same thing?”
“The Bursar’s and the Financial Aid Offices are not combined because of our separation of duty,” says Senior Financial Aid Assistant, Patricia Miller.
According to Miller, the Bursar’s Office deals with billing students, while the Financial Aid Office deals with processing aid and giving the students money.
“When people are in the process of becoming students, they deal with Financial Aid to figure out how to actually pay the bills. While here at the Bursar’s Office, they come to us when they have trouble or questions about their bills.” says HCCC’s Bursar, Debra Sutliff.
One problem that comes from these offices being separated is that students have to travel back and forth between the two. When student go to the Financial Aid Office for help, they are usually told to cross the walkway and enter the Classroom Administration building, where the Bursar’s Office is located.
“God, there are times where I wish we were connected. We’ve sent kids across that walkway so many times, especially in the winter,” Miller states.
“When I first began working here many years ago, the offices were actually in the same building. They were right next to each other. It was much easier for the students who were new to the college to find their way around. I wish that they were still connected, it’d be much easier.” states Sutliff.
Even though the Bursar’s and Financial Aid offices are not in the same building; that does not mean that they are not connected in certain ways. According to Ms. Sutliff, the Financial Aid Office has an idea of what goes on in the Bursar’s Office and can relay information to students without them having to go back and forth. Certain problems can be solved simply by a phone call from the Financial Aid Office to the Bursar’s Office.
“We have many people working here that can help. There are three secretaries, myself, and Aaron Alford, the Assistant Bursar, who can help answer questions that students may have.” Sutliff comments.
One reason why the Bursar’s Office and the Financial Aid Office have not moved into one office together is the lack of privacy. According to Ms. Miller, students come into the Financial Aid Office all of the time and they tell personal, private stories and reasons explaining why they need Financial Aid.
“The Registrar and Bursar’s Office is so open, we wouldn’t have the room to talk to the students privately,” says Miller.
Students might feel embarrassed to tell the Financial Aid personnel their stories simply because they are out in the open; they would not want to share their personal information with everyone in the office or risk someone hearing their stories.
Another reason why these offices have not combined is the process of moving. According to both Ms. Miller and Ms. Sutliff, moving everything from the Financial Aid Office to the Bursar’s Office would be a major hassle. Time also factors in as a big issue.
“It would take a lot to move all of the offices in the same building,” Sutliff states. “We’ve thought about it many times, actually. But we simply do not have the time.”
“We’ve thought about moving and combining with the Registrar’s and Bursar’s Office,” Miller comments. “But who has a week to move? We would have to stop working just to move everything.”
The only question is this: If both the Bursar of the college and the Senior Financial Aid Assistant both believe that it would be easier if the offices were combined, why doesn’t the college find the time to move the Financial Aid Office into the same building that the Bursar’s Office is located in? Since moving the Financial Aid Office into the Registrar’s and Bursar’s Office isn’t possible due to lack of privacy, it would be beneficial to the students and to the people who work in the offices if they were at least in the same building.
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