Yes, we deliver: At onsite office hours, students get answers, support, and sometimes a special treat
Ange, a senior at Manchester Central High School, had been trying for weeks to file her FAFSA when she heard about Granite Edvance’s weekly onsite office hours through her school’s multilingual liaison. “I was going to give up, but he encouraged me to go in and try,” she said.
Franchesca Alcala, a Funding Specialist at Granite Edvance, sat down with Ange and quickly got to the bottom of the problem. Her brother had filed a FAFSA in the past and mistakenly used her dad’s social security number. Her dad didn’t know how to get into the account and couldn’t make a new one. Solving the problem proved more difficult.
Finally, during their sixth appointment together, Franchesca was able to get Ange’s dad on the phone, along with a representative from Federal Student Aid. “We explained the situation, then we ended up switching the FAFSA email to one of Ange’s secondary emails, and we used that email to navigate through the problem,” Franchesca said.
There was just one more thing to do. Before they hit the “submit” button, Franchesca turned to Ange and said, “What’s your favorite food? We have to celebrate.”
The next week, Franchesca showed up to school with a cheesecake. Ange, who went on to complete her nursing school applications, was amazed that Franchesca would not only persist in solving her problem but take such a personal interest in her success. “She was really helpful and really nice,” she said.
Though they don’t usually end with rich desserts, stories like these are common for our Education and Career Pathways team. Throughout the year, the team hosts office-hour events at community colleges and other community partners throughout the state. These drop-in office hours are designed to meet students where they are and help with a broad range of topics, such as college essay review, filing a FAFSA, and general conversations about their future plans.
Franchesca and Funding Specialist Sharleigh Thomson are onsite at Manchester Central every week, helping students file FAFSAs, search for scholarships, work on their college applications, troubleshoot problems, and more. “It’s basically all the appointments that we offer, just in condensed form,” said Franchesca, who attended Manchester Central herself and is fluent in Spanish and French. “It’s kind of just easing that process for some of those first-generation students who wouldn’t know what to do otherwise… We’ve helped some students from beginning to end.”
Recently, Franchesca and Sharleigh were also on hand at Accepted Students Day at Manchester Community College to help students with all things related to financial aid. The mood was festive, with the smell of popcorn floating through the air, but the stress level was high for many. Franchesca and Sharleigh helped students and families navigate their FAFSAs and answered questions about tuition bills, scholarships, entrance counseling, federal loans, and other topics.
Daniel Lavigne and his mom, Lindsey Burns, dropped by to go over their bill, which contained some costs they didn’t understand.
“We’ve never done this before, so we don’t know what to do,” Lindsey said.
“I know. It’s scary and weird to look at. It throws a lot of people off,” said Sharleigh, before walking the pair through the components of their bill.
Daniel, who plans to study HVAC in the fall, learned he’d be getting excess funding through his Pell grant and wouldn’t need the loans he’d accepted. He and his mom left relieved.
“Thank you so much,” Lindsey said.
By the end of the afternoon, Franchesca and Sharleigh had helped more than 30 students, often rotating among several at once, temporarily keeping track of interactions on a tally sheet near the door. Each slash of the pen represented someone who went home with one less thing to worry about and a bit more confidence about the road ahead.