SGA invited students to its March 28 campus talk, where they were encouraged to ask questions and provide feedback about campus matters.
President Houston Davis and other faculty members spoke on matters such as FAFSA, the upcoming eclipse, parking issues, potholes and more.
One of the first topics addressed was FAFSA, which has been further delayed for students across the country after errors in calculations.
“Hearing that there are problems with FAFSA, still, fill it out. Do that, make certain that you’re in the queue and that will ensure that we get things taken care of as soon as they possibly can,” said Kevin Thomas, associate vice president for enrollment management.
UCA first heard of issues with the new FAFSA rollout in spring 2023 and has been preparing for delays since.
“We began getting word last year at this time that there was likely going to be delays in that [the new FAFSA rollout]. And sadly, those were correct. Although the new forms are open and families can engage with those, we still are at a point where we’re not getting actual records from students and don’t think UCA’s alone in that — 399 other institutions in America as well,” Davis said. “But what we’ve been trying to do since October for sure, and really this time last year, thinking about what we can do proactively is reaching out to students to let students know that, ‘Hey, we can be your home base.’
“We do want you to know if you do have concerns as returning students about FAFSA, Ms. Stubbs and the financial aid team certainly are there to meet your needs,” he said.
FAFSA is an integral part of the new UCA Commitment which will be implemented for incoming freshmen.
“So we’ve made changes to scholarship programs to make certain that we could serve as many students as possible. We realized about two years ago that we were within striking distance of being able to extend to an incoming class that whatever their unmet need was, if they apply, for the FAFSA to be able to get any Pell Grant that they’re eligible for,” Davis said.
“The unmet need really is reduced by such an amount that our existing scholarship programs are existing student work programs with just very minor increases that could be able to meet all of those students underneath,” he said.
The April 8 eclipse was also a topic of discussion, with Chief of Staff Amy Whitehead detailing traffic blocks, events and expected crowds.
“We know there will be many people from out of town who are here in the county in Conway because minimum night stays for a lot of those, those lodging locations require that they have a certain number of nights of stay,” Whitehead said. “So they’ll be here early and we wanted to make sure that there are plenty of opportunities for them to connect for some educational and fun activities on campus. So we may have higher-than-normal traffic that weekend on campus just due to the plethora of activities that are being planned both through the College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences and the College of Natural Science and Mathematics.”
Traffic is not thought to be a large cause of concern, but Bruce Street and College Avenue will be closed April 8.
“We have a special map that’s posted on there [uca.edu/eclipse] so you can see limited access situations that day. So Bruce Street will be closed for food and craft vendors while local vendors are there. Don’t plan to really go down Bruce Street that day,” Whitehead said. “No lots will be closed around there, so you can still access the lot near Estes and near the Farris Center.
“You just can’t drive past the Farris Center, going more towards Lewis that’ll be closed right there, and College Avenue from Donaghey to Farris will be closed. It’ll be limited access for people who need to get to the hospital and who live there,” she said.
