Memo Final Draft

To: President of City College of New York

From: Z. Patel, CCNY Student

Subject: Financial Aid Office Issues

Date: September 12, 2018

The purpose of this memo is to discuss issues like long waiting times at the financial aid office and the need for an easier way to communicate with the financial aid advisors. This memo will also propose a possible solution to the issues mentioned above.

Every year, most of the students fill out the FAFSA form to receive financial aid to help pay for their college tuition. But usually, we face many problems to get all the money from our awards and grants. When we seek help from the financial aid office it is a hectic process which is extremely time-consuming and inefficient for us.

There may be many issues that arise when a student needs help with processing their financial aid from the office, but one of the biggest of all is long waiting times at the office. Even when a student has made an appointment he/ she has to wait for a very long time before his/ her turn. This does not only happen only once or twice. I asked many of my classmates about their experience at the office of financial aid and the majority replied that they had to wait at least an hour or two before they could speak to a representative. For instance, I made an appointment over the summer of 2018 for 12:30 PM and I arrived more than 20 minutes from the scheduled time, but I had to wait till 1:45 PM before I could speak to a representative. While I was waiting I saw was that there was not enough staff to handle all the students. Since my appointment was around lunchtime there was only one window open, and the representative who was working there at the time went on her lunch break and there was no one to replace her. This is where the process of seeking help becomes hectic. Since we made an appointment we are hoping that we would see a representative at the scheduled time and resolve our issues as soon as possible without wasting time waiting in the lines.

Another issue is that it is extremely difficult to communicate with the experts at the office and resolve issues that can be solved without meeting in person. There are sometimes where one just have a question or two which can be easily answered on a phone. Therefore there is a need for a better communication system which helps students connect to the representative and ask them about any doubts they may have regarding their financial aid.

I think a possible solution for the matters discussed is to hire more staff to work at the office. If there are more experts to help the students the waiting time will be significantly reduced. One possible solution for effective communication is to develop an online resource where the students can directly chat with a financial aid advisor and possibly resolve their issue online. I understand that making a new online system to chat can be expensive. If the administration increases the technology fees, even by the slightest bit, it would help pay for expenses. There are approximately 16000 students studying at the City College and if the technology fees are increased by $100, that is $1,600,000 per semester, which I think should be enough to cover the expenses.

Memo Self Reflection Essay

This was my first time writing a memo. So, before I started writing I had to do a little research on how to write one. Mainly, I used the textbook to understand the format, content, and the structure of the memo. Once, I understood the format of the memo, the next big task was to find the purpose of my memo, and why the topic I was discussing is important. The audience was clear since I was writing to the president, but I had to think what he may or may not know about the issue being discussed. So, it was important to give some context to help understand the topic.

Since, the genre of this assignment was a memo and it follows a standard format, it was easy to break down what I had to include in my memo. It had to include the purpose, a short summary, description of the problem, why it is significant and a possible recommendation or a solution. Therefore, I started with what I think the most important part is, the purpose. The purpose of my memo was to discuss issues like long waiting times and the need for an easier way to communicate with the financial aid office. The purpose became my motivation to write the memo, as it acted like a frame of the building and everything will be built around it. Once I had the broader idea in mind, the next step was to start writing down the specific details like what causes the issues mentioned, how it affects people, etc. To me, specific relevant details were important, therefore I wrote my own experience with timing details to give the president context for how long it take to resolve an issue at the financial aid office.

At the end, I think I have accomplished what I set to do, which was to bring up an issue at our college. Once, I had presented my issue, the next step was think for a possible solution. In my draft, I came up with a solution but it was lacking depth, which thankfully I was made aware of my peers in the peer review session and the professor. Both gave me the same advice to add more details and think about the financial cost of my solution. So, in my final draft I thought about a possible solution which also takes the financial cost into account.

Finally, this assignment will also help me in the future in my work life. On last friday, my Engineering professor was talking how three employees at a company wrote a memo to the management about a faulty product. It is possible for me to be in their position, and if any day if I am in a position like so, I would know how to write a formal memo to present the issue. Furthermore, I also also learned to enhance my drafting and revising abilities through this assignment. As I got a lot of good suggestion from my peers and the professor which helped me make my memo better than what I had drafted myself.