Daniel Barkowitz | March 25, 2005

"C U @ CPW"

Hey all!

Before I take off for the weekend, I wanted to give a brief description and highlight of what SFS will be doing during CPW (to translate, what those of us who work in “Student Financial Services” will be doing during “Campus Preview Weekend”).

CPW is a wonderful time to see MIT at its best. I particularly enjoy seeing the wide variety of activities available in the CPW guidebook (Ben tells me this year there will be more than 500 individual events). Of course, no one can go to them all, and there are many that will be competing for your attention. I would like to point your attention to two particular events that I think are worthy of your consideration:

• Financial Aid Appointments -- During Thursday, Friday and Saturday of CPW, Financial Aid Officers will be available to meet with families during 20 minute time slots. These appointment times begin on the half hour and appointments can be made from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm (the start time of the last appointment of the day). The appointments will take place in Room 11-320. You can schedule appointments when you check in for CPW. We will staff a separate registration table next to the sign in for CPW (in the Stratton Student Center) and will book appointments on a first-come, first-serve basis. We do have eleven of us seeing students, so there will be plenty of opportunity to book an appointment if you need one.

This of course begs the question of “Who needs to make an appointment?” If you are having difficulty figuring out how to afford your EFC, if you have specific questions about your financial aid award, if you need to speak with us about a delay in filing your application and understanding the repercussions of that delay, feel free to make an appointment to meet one of us. If you have general questions, though, you may want to wait to book an appointment until after you attend:

• The Financial Aid Information session -- On Friday from 8:00 to 9:00 am in Kresge Auditorium, I will be presenting a session whose purpose is to address general questions from “How did we determine your award” to “What do I need to do know” to “How do I pay my bill” and “How do I find a job on campus.” This session will also (hopefully) provide you some time to ask questions. Parents and students are welcome, although we know that many students may not be awake at that hour! We will be meeting in Kresge Auditorium and after my session concludes, President Hockfield will begin the President's Welcome and Faculty Keynote Lecture in the same room! As we get closer to CPW, I'll try to post a pdf file of the PowerPoint presentation so if you are not able to attend you can take a look at it.

I've also been told, though the time and date has not yet been finalized, that there may be a “meet the bloggers” event during CPW. If so, I'll let you know when and where that may be.

Otherwise, keep your eyes peeled! You never know where you might see those of us from SFS!

If you are coming to campus for CPW soon, we look forward to seeing you. If not, you're going to miss a great event, but don't worry: MIT is so terrific that much of what happens during CPW is just a reflection of the breadth and depth of events available most every weekend.