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Department Profile - Student Finance

and Placement

 

 

 

 

 

Front row, | to r. Financial Aid Clerks Marie Lino-Marin and Lisa Barone, and
Student Finance & Placement Officer Patty Lewis.

Back row, | to r. Financial Aid Assessor Marie Anweiler, Student Placement
Clerk Connie Doherty, and Financial Aid Assessors Anne Dijk and Joyce Hunter.

 

If you’ ve attended college or university,
chances are good that you needed
financial help to do it. At Douglas
College, students short of cash for books,
tuition, and living expenses go to the
Student Finance and Placement Office.
That’s also where students go to find on-
campus and off-campus jobs to help make
ends meet, and to get work experience.

As Douglas College has grown, so has the
number of students served by Student
Finance and Placement. In 1992-93, the
Office disbursed over $9 million in
student loans; in 1985, the total was $2
million. There are 35 Work-Study
projects on campus now; in 1985, there
were five. It’s a busy office; at certain
times of the academic year, they will serve
hundreds of students per day. Some of
those students are in financial trouble,
some are angry, some are just happy to get
help with the bills. Here’s a look at the
people in the Student Finance and
Placement Office and what they do.

Marie Lino-Marin and Lisa
Barone, Financial Aid Clerks

Marie and Lisa are the front counter staff

in the office. They answer students’
questions about loans, bursaries,
scholarships, ABESAP and PTSAP. They
confirm eligibility before disbursing loan
documents and grant cheques to the
students. They keep tabs on students’
full-time or part-time status as it affects
eligibility for financial aid, and liaise with
the Ministry of Skills, Training and
Labour. Marie and Lisa also help
students from other provinces figure out
all the different provincial loan policies
across Canada. Lisa’s local is 5107,
Marie is at 5576.

Marie Anweiler, Joyce Hunter
and Anne Dijk, Financial Aid
Assessors

Marie and Anne (who is filling in for
Joyce Hunter during a leave of absence)
advise students on a variety of financial
issues. Students who have reached their
maximum debt loads, who have
withdrawn from classes and are over-
awarded, or who are in loan default
situations can get advice from them. They
also help students appeal for financial aid
when the student has unusual or
extenuating circumstances not covered by

the normal policy. They interview
students for emergency loans, sit on
bursary committees, conduct financial aid
workshops, and refer students to various
government ministries when necessary.
Marie, Joyce and Anne also record
changes to program costs, which affect
the amount of financial aid students can
apply for. Marie’s local is 5106. The
local for Joyce/Anne is 5104.

Connie Doherty, Student
Placement Clerk

Connie is responsible for the operation of
on-campus employment programs that
provide work experience and income for
Douglas College students. These
programs include Student Assistants,
Work-Study, Challenge Summer
Employment Program, and the B.C. 21
Summer Employment Program. She also
handles off-campus postings for part-time
and summer employment and determines
if students are eligible to work on campus.
She acts as a contact with outside
employers, and internally she helps
departments when they want to hire
students. Connie can be reached at local
5101.

Patty Lewis, Student Finance &
Placement Officer

Patty administers financial aid and student
placement programs at Douglas College.
She sets policy and develops strategies for
the disbursement of the student financial
aid budget and for the ABESAP, PTSAP,
and Work-Study programs. She helps
develop and update the computer systems
to handle all the financial aid programs,
and reports to the Ministry of Skills,
Training and Labour on expenditures for
ABESAP, PTSAP and Work-Study. As
well, she chairs the Work-Study
Adjudication Committee and the
Selection Committee for Scholarships,
Awards and Bursaries. She advises
students with special circumstances,
assists students with appeals,
reassessments and applications, and
referrals for special funding. She deals
with students who are angry or upset at
the front counter, and acts as an advocate
for students in terms of policy changes.
Her local is 5105.4