By Genesis Aviles
Mariana Montoya a first-year student said, “I started calling asking my questions back in July during the summer semester and I managed to get an answer on January like a week before the spring semester started.”
The Financial Aid Office at UT has a zoom room open from Monday through Friday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for students who need assistance.
Montoya said, “I joined the zoom meeting twice and every time that the woman on the zoom meeting was helping me out, she would be like ‘oh let me try to contact your financial aid counselor. She’d always be busy. And every time I tried contacting her directly, she never responded whether be a call or an email. One time she replied to my email, but she did not answer my question. My financial aid counselor didn’t help me.”
Madison Pulica, theatre major, also shared her own experience with the financial aid office.
Pulica said, “In my experience when asking questions, I have gotten very slow and unclear responses from financial aid services.”
The Financial Aid Office is located in Plant Hall, Room 427. Students are also welcomed to walk in during office hours in case they have any inquiries.
Allanda Thomas, a student at UT who was looking for assistance at the office said, “When I went to the financial aid office to ask about my financial aid, it took 20, then 45 minutes and then they forgot about me, so I had to ask again.”
The Minaret contacted the Director of The Financial Aid Office regarding this matter.
Director Jacqueline Galzerano said “I am sorry to hear the only students you’ve spoken with seem to have had negative experiences with the Financial Aid Office. I assure you that our team is dedicated to helping each and every student to the best of our ability. In my over 20 years of experience in financial aid at UT, I have never worked with a more hard-working and dedicated team.”
Some of the main responsibilities of a Financial Aid Counselor, as stated in the job position posted by The University of Tampa on Indeed, are to provide good customer service and counsel students.
The University of Tampa lists 10 financial aid counselors on its website, with 8 available to assist undergraduate students and 2 dedicated to graduate students.
A total number of 11,054 students have been announced to be enrolled for the 2023-2024 academic year, with over 90% of UT undergraduates receiving some form of financial aid.
The Office of Federal Student Aid in their 2020-2021 Handbook said, “To manage a school’s aid programs effectively, the aid administrator must be supported by an adequate number of professional and clerical personnel. The number of staff that is adequate depends on the number of students aided, the number and types of programs in which the school participates, the number of applicants evaluated and processed, the amount of funds administered, and the type of financial aid delivery system the school uses. What may be adequate at one school may be insufficient at another. “
