FRESHMEN LETTERS INITIATE ENROLLMENT CHANGES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 29, 1996

Fairbanks, Alaska - Last summer Jesse Grady was a recent high school graduate from Takotna facing one of the toughest decisions of his life - what to do with his future. For three months he went back and forth between college or getting a full-time job. Finally deciding college was the way to go, he quickly learned the three months of anguish over what to do with his life was relatively easy compared to confusion he faced during enrollment at UAF.

"The whole enrollment process was pretty confusing and hectic, and I almost dropped out of school because of these problems," Grady said. "I needed to get some answers and the automated phone lines were a complete hassle. I wanted to talk to a real person."

Grady wasn't the only one confused about the enrollment process.

"Information I got about the process of applying to the various areas in the university was vague or too late to be useful," said Sara Younger, a freshman from Beaverton, Ore. "We didn't even find out about parent orientation until the day before we flew up here. My mom ended up missing the parents' program and that was pretty frustrating."

Grady, along with Younger and 24 other students in the Freshman Interest Group program, described their enrollment experiences to Chancellor Joan Wadlow through a letter-writing assignment in their English composition class.

There will also be changes in campus food service, orientation programs and fee payment as a direct result of student input, Wadlow added.

Most of the FIG letters listed a lack of coordination between campus departments as a hindrance to receiving all needed materials for enrollment.

The time period between admittance and enrollment is crucial and it's important that students receive these materials, said Saichi Oba, interim admissions director and student information committee chairman.

"If we can make all enrollment information concise, compiled and coordinated, then we increase the likelihood that they will come to school here," Oba said. "High-caliber students contribute a lot to the university community and the state of Alaska. We are trying to break down barriers to make it easier for students to enroll here."

The only way to get rid of these barriers in enrollment is by asking current students what they are and what should be done to eliminate them, Oba added.

Streamlining material into one complete information packet from all UAF departments would make the enrollment experience for incoming students a lot easier, Younger and Grady said. After reading their suggestion in the FIG letters, the chancellor agreed.

Under the directive of Dana Thomas, chairman of the chancellor's enrollment experience committee, representatives from admissions, residence life, student orientation and financial aid are restructuring material for newly admitted students.

The material will include two checklists: one listing what students should do prior to coming to UAF and another listing what should be done after arrival in Fairbanks.

Financial aid, orientation and food service adjustments are the next FIG letter issues on the plate for the chancellor.

"We consider each of them [the letters] seriously," Wadlow said. "Since the food services contract will be revised next spring, I have indicated that a requirement from the bidders will be to address the type of flexibility described in one of the letters."

The FIG letters were the brainchild of sociology professor Judith Kleinfeld who, with English instructor Jennifer Boots and history professor Terrence Cole, team teach one of the six freshmen groups offered this semester.

The program provides students with a cooperative learning experience between core classes, a connection between different subjects and issues and a foundation to form study groups.

CONTACT: Dana Thomas, Chancellor's Assistant on Enrollment and Educational Assessment, (907) 474-6990 or Jillian Swope, University Relations, (907-474-7778.

JCS/11-29-96/97-035