A multi-departmental service center located in the space once occupied by the District Market is now open for business, but is not fully functional.
Colonial Central – a much-publicized effort to cut away at the red tape in Foggy Bottom – has helped more than 3,000 people in the past month but is not completely finished, with at least one department still moving in.
The space – which houses Student Financial Assistance, Student Accounts and the Cashier’s Office – only houses 20 percent of the Student Financial Assistance staff. The department is also working to convert all their paper files into a digital format.
“By November, financial assistance staffers will have access to records at any place on campus,” said Edwin Schonfeld, associate vice president for financial management.
Schonfeld added that Colonial Central will serve students well once it gets organized.
“Students can now come to one place for anything involved with financial matters,” Schonfeld said. “By having all these people in one place, we think that they will be able to better serve students.”
Department staffers said they are working hard to help students through Colonial Central’s ongoing, often frustrating transition.
“Any office that gets split in half is going to have to find new ways to fully function,” said Marie Armstrong, a financial aid counselor who now works out of Colonial Central. “Most every question can be answered here, but you never can tell.”
Armstrong said if students have a question about financial assistance that they should make Colonial Central their first stop despite the fact that many staff still operate out of Rice Hall.
“It’s only a very small percentage of students who have to go to Rice Hall (to retrieve their files),” said Taina Christner, director of Colonial Central. “And often those are issues that require the attention of the department director.”
Both Christner and Schonfeld said signs listing the services Student Financial Assistance can handle at Colonial Central have been posted throughout campus. The available services include general financial aid information, form pick-up and drop-off, issues related to outside scholarship and state grants as well as emergency loans.
Administrators also advertised Colonial Central’s mission and available services this summer at Colonial Inauguration. Schonfeld said his office sent numerous e-mails to students and parents and made detailed presentations at CI. In addition, Schonfeld said his office plans to send a postcard to every student listing the “menu” of the services at Colonial Central.
Student response to new service cenerhas been positive.
“It is a really nice setup,” said Hans Hobbs, a second year graduate student in the Elliott School who visited the Student Accounts Office. “The old office was tiny and disorganized.”
“I ended up really happy,” said senior Chris Burke, who has visited the Office of Financial Assistance on several occasions. “It’s hard to believe that such a small change as switching offices makes a big difference, but it does.”
Though Colonial Central currently houses three offices, GW officials said they hope to add several new services during the school year. While no timeline has been set, the University plans to add Colonial Central staff from the registrar and GWorld card offices, Schonfeld said. Students are currently able to take photos for their GWorld cards on the Colonial Central premises.
“With full GWorld capability, students can come here and get the same services that they go upstairs for,” Schonfeld said.
But beyond adding departments and services, Peter Konwerski, assistant vice president for Student Academic Support Services, said he sees the center as the beginning of a fundamental change to how GW students interact with the administration.
“I think that (Colonial Central) represents the start of a new service culture here at GW,” he said. “It’s a major effort to do more, and do more in one place.”
