Student Services to be "Reengineered" at WPI

A new effort has been undertaken to "reengineer" the student services at WPI. These services include: Academic Advising, Financial Aid, the Accounting Office, and the Registrar. President Parrish set three goals for this new effort including improving the quality of service, increasing web services, and placing the Registrar, Financial Aid, and Student Accounts into a central location.

During C term an email invitation was sent out to all students to complete a survey on student services. According to Kari Blinn, the reengineering coordinator, the purpose of that survey was to assess the current satisfaction with student services. Blinn said that nearly 600 students responded, which was approximately a 20 percent return rate. Also, according to Blinn, there were over 140 comments, which Blinn described as "invaluable." The URL for these results is http://www.wpi.edu/Intranet/StudentServices. A UNIX username and password is necessary to view this information.

When asked whether the Accounting Office is prompt in processing your requests, 241 students, or 50 percent of those that answered agreed, and 27 percent strongly agreed.

Fifty one percent, or 209 students, agreed with the statement that the Financial Aid Office is prompt in processing your requests. Twenty-five percent strongly agreed with the previous statement. When asked if Financial Aid was willing to resolve problems you encounter, 178 students, or 46 percent agreed, and 33 percent strongly agreed.

When asked if Academic Advising treats you with respect, 234 students, or 50 percent or those that answered strongly agreed, while only 30 students, or six percent strongly disagreed.

Thirty-eight percent or 137 students agreed with the statement that Residential Services is prompt in processing your requests. However, 21 percent, or 76 students, strongly disagreed with that statement.

Of the 279 students who responded to this question, 106 students, or 38 percent, responded that participating in the housing lottery was poor. On another question, 238 students, or 42 percent, responded that registering for courses was excellent.

On the question of overall satisfaction, 13 percent responded that they were perfectly satisfied, 58 percent responded that they were satisfied, 26 percent responded that they were somewhat satisfied, and two percent responded that they were not at all satisfied.

The survey included a section for comments. These opinions were varied and not all students reported their comments on the web form. A sophomore, Nathan Liefer, said of the Financial Aid Office, "As soon as I get past the secretaries, I'm treated like a two-year-old." Liefer says that when he asks a question of someone at Financial Aid, they just keep adding up the numbers on his package, which he has already seen. Liefer said, "When they get passionate, they jot the sum down triumphantly on a scrap of paper and hand it to me as if they were giving me a spectacular award. I try to ask the question again, but all I get is the same meaningless number of another scrap of paper.

Already, the reengineering team has visited colleges that, according to Blinn, have excellent reputations for Student Services. These included Tufts, Yale, Carnegie Mellon, and the University of Delaware. Also, this coming summer, some student services offices will be moving into Daniels Hall. These include the Registrar, Financial Aid Office, and Administrative Services. They also have been receiving input from staff.

On March 27, Kari Blinn will be leading an "interactive" town hall meeting about Student Services. The town hall meeting will be in Kinnicutt Lecture Hall at 6 p.m. According to Blinn, food will be provided for those who attend.

Blinn said that the "reengineered" student services are supposed to open at the beginning of the 2002-2003 school year.