Dean to Focus on Financial Aid, Curriculum
Katie Connolly
Issue date: 9/20/06 Section: KSG News
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A quiet calm enveloped the walls of Dean David Ellwood's office, despite the room's proximity to the frenetic Forum. There, Ellwood sat down with The Citizen to share his priorities for the year ahead.
Financial aid topped his list, students may be happy to know.
"Our students should be able to test the limits of their idealism and abilities, and not be hampered by their ability to pay off debt," he said.
"I really believe that financial aid matters. It really makes a difference. We have to work as hard has we can to improve it - I am constantly trying to raise money."
Concerned about the Loan Repayment Assistance Scheme (LRAP), students organized the PEST (Procrastination on the Endowment Stops Today) campaign last year to draw administrative attention to raising LRAP funds. Now, second year students involved in PEST have vowed to continue spotlighting the issue.
After joking that PEST was "not his favorite acronym", Ellwood said he was open to hearing ideas from students about how LRAP could be advanced.
"Together, students and faculty should be using our analytic tools to think about how we can do this properly. I was very pleased with the student involvement on the issue last year. My only sadness is that the issue got portrayed as one of the administration versus students, which is an unfair characterization."
PEST spokesperson Linda Adamson (MPP2) echoed the Dean's call for students and faculty to partner on the issue of financial aid.
"This year we would like to move away from the more antagonistic PEST approach and to rename the initiative in line with our goal, which is to collaborate with the administration to find ways to improve the scheme" Adamson said.
LRAP has been more difficult to sell to donors than upfront scholarships. But Adamson, who intends to write her PAE on financial aid programs, believes the problem can be remedied.
"I have been in contact with a couple of faculty members who alerted me to studies showing the effectiveness of back-end financial aid, like LRAP, in enabling students to pursue careers in public service," she said. "We would like to use this concrete information to help the administration develop a strategy for promoting the idea of LRAP as a sound investment to donors."
Financial aid topped his list, students may be happy to know.
"Our students should be able to test the limits of their idealism and abilities, and not be hampered by their ability to pay off debt," he said.
"I really believe that financial aid matters. It really makes a difference. We have to work as hard has we can to improve it - I am constantly trying to raise money."
Concerned about the Loan Repayment Assistance Scheme (LRAP), students organized the PEST (Procrastination on the Endowment Stops Today) campaign last year to draw administrative attention to raising LRAP funds. Now, second year students involved in PEST have vowed to continue spotlighting the issue.
After joking that PEST was "not his favorite acronym", Ellwood said he was open to hearing ideas from students about how LRAP could be advanced.
"Together, students and faculty should be using our analytic tools to think about how we can do this properly. I was very pleased with the student involvement on the issue last year. My only sadness is that the issue got portrayed as one of the administration versus students, which is an unfair characterization."
PEST spokesperson Linda Adamson (MPP2) echoed the Dean's call for students and faculty to partner on the issue of financial aid.
"This year we would like to move away from the more antagonistic PEST approach and to rename the initiative in line with our goal, which is to collaborate with the administration to find ways to improve the scheme" Adamson said.
LRAP has been more difficult to sell to donors than upfront scholarships. But Adamson, who intends to write her PAE on financial aid programs, believes the problem can be remedied.
"I have been in contact with a couple of faculty members who alerted me to studies showing the effectiveness of back-end financial aid, like LRAP, in enabling students to pursue careers in public service," she said. "We would like to use this concrete information to help the administration develop a strategy for promoting the idea of LRAP as a sound investment to donors."
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