Updated Feb. 3 at 1:34 p.m. EST.
After President John Fry announced an initiative to “streamline processes and eliminate navigational barriers” with Temple’s resources, the university has launched the Direct-TU One Stop Student Services Center on the ground floor of Carnell Hall.
The “Stop,” opened on Jan. 16, is a space for students to use financial aid registration and retention resources. The university also plans to create an app to further centralize the services. The center is currently open on Mondays and Wednesdays for walk-ins, but plans to soon transition to an appointment and walk-in system and remain open for more days.
“[It’s meant to end] the ‘Temple Shuffle’, where you have five questions, [one service] can answer two of them and then the other three you have to go into three completely different buildings,” said Shawn Fagan, assistant vice provost for student success.
The Stop allows students to get basic questions answered or further assistance with billing and tuition payment instead of them having to go to Student Financial Services or other student resources.
Once the Student Success Management Platform opens online in the Fall 2025 semester, the Stop and the smartphone app will be able to communicate with each other to “address potential issues before they escalate.”
The One Stop Student Services Center can identify specific students with a likelihood of dropping out between the Fall 2024 semester and Fall 2025, Fagan said. The Stop’s peer ambassadors are able to check in with those students and see if they need any assistance in continuing their degree or simply send end-of-semester encouraging messages.
“Once [students] are here, with the option of identifying what they’re here for, we can see what are the choices they’re picking – are they having problems with their loans? Is it documentation that they’re submitting with financial aid?” said Sandra Mejia, associate director of student financial services. “What’s the best way to communicate to students effectively, precisely, not overexplaining things, but explaining things in a way you would understand?”
Some students have found Temple resources hard to navigate. With the TUPortal or the TUSafe application, a wide variety of financial, registry or enrollment services can be difficult to find or access, said Chloe Peddy, a senior art therapy major.
“The phone call service [for SFS] is a little confusing, there’s a lot of buttons to press to get where you want to get to”, Peddy said. “Info on that would be helpful, and explaining things better – I’ve had times where I’ve pressed the number two because I think I need to talk to those people, and they say, ‘no it’s the wrong office,’ and they send me away again, and I have to start all over.”
The current team at the Stop consists of Fagan, Mejia’s team, two student success specialists and 17 peer student ambassadors. Fagan and Mejia plan to bring in more people trained in different departments, like admissions, in case more students come into the Stop for more varied assistance.
Though the Stop won’t replace the services offered at SFS or enrollment management, its leaders said it can help streamline a connection to other resources like mental health initiatives. Students who come in for financial aid assistance might find themselves in need of mental health support, and the Stop can try to get them in contact with the right people, Fagan said.
“There’s a lot of great resources, there are a lot of great people at Temple, but we tend to be siloed,” Fagan said. “So in terms of this operation where we’re trying to co-locate services that we have identified that create barriers for students. At the same time, this will be phased in, communicating with our partners, schools, colleges and other service partners.”
CORRECTION: This article previously referred to The One Stop Student Services Center as The Student Success Center. It has since been corrected.
Be the first to comment