Although short, the Associated Students of the University of Arizona’s weekly senate meeting covered a wide range of topics from new financial aid letters to the Red, White and Blue Block Party concert artist.
Radical Something was announced as the performing artist for the event, which will take place on Oct. 3 on a section of University Boulevard. The band will go on after the televised presidential debate.
To kick off the start of the ASUA’s Vote 2012 campaign, ASUA senators and interns from the Arizona Students’ Association will appear at an event on the UA Mall on Tuesday, Sept. 25. Food will also be served.
A new appropriations board director was announced at the meeting. Adam Geyer, a freshman studying neuroscience and cognitive science and Spanish, has been appointed as one of the seven directors on the board.
Additionally, Senator Joel Torres explained in his report that the federal government is changing how it goes about packaging financial aid. It will now formulate how much students have to pay out of pocket as opposed to only saying how much financial aid they are getting. The letters will also inform students about what kinds of loans they can apply for.
As an employer for the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid for two years, Torres is working with the office to be the students’ voice and express their concerns.
Torres added that his goal is to find out what the most common mistakes are that students make when accepting their financial aid, and make sure that the letters were clarified in such a way to curb those mistakes.
“If we tell that right away and we try to put that on there, they won’t make that mistake and it will be more smoothly for them to go about accepting their financial aid,” Torres said.
A test version of the letter will be sent to students who are veterans, or rely on the GI Bill, and then the government will decide whether to implement the change or revise its approach.
The candidates for the ASUA senate special elections, to fill a seat that opened earlier this month, will be announced Thursday Oct. 4.
