FroshMemo: Archived Issue 18 Spring 21

How to go about reaching out to advisors!
 

One resource that was severely underutilized in my first year of time at state was that of the academic advising aid that is present and active here on campus.  Throughout the entirety of the semester, our University’s Undergraduate Advising Center (UAC) and Advising Hub work as one-stop-shops for any of your personal advising needs.  Information in areas such as what classes to choose for the upcoming semester, academic planning for your time at SF State, probationary details, or questions about the field of study are all readily available through this useful asset!  A quick visit to the Advising Hub page allows Gator’s to use the directory available to shift through first-year advising as well as advising by the college of study of the student, such as the Lam Family College of Business, College of Ethnic Studies, etc. and select which one applies!  In doing so, all of the different resources to these specific colleges become available as well as lists to the entire list of faculty advisors at you or your students disposal, making it an excellent way of finding the emails, phone numbers, or even drop-in times for student advising.  From here, it is simple enough to navigate the landscape of the advising site to find the answers and information to any issues, conflicts, or questions one may have, or the resources to reach out to in order to find these answers.  

Personally, I would place understanding and using the Advising Hub Center the University provides for our students as much as possible!  Since our Gator’s are paying hard-earned money to be a member of our SFSU community and selected this destination to receive their education, the implementation and use of such resources like the advising center should be at the forefront of every students mind, as creating such connections as well as receiving additional knowledge on how to navigate one’s time here at SF State is imperative to student success!  Furthermore, this is a great way to form an association with your college and it’s resources, as well as the many wonderful people under these organizations that are there to help you in achieving your academic goals and aspirations. 

How to reach out to and connect with financial aid!

Something that I struggled with in my first year was speaking to and reaching out to financial aid. It can be a bit intimidating to reach out to resources but it is well worth it and important to get your questions answered! The financial aid office is a great resource to reach out to when you are in need of any type of support through your financial aid process.

What I found to be very helpful when I was in my first year was the support they offered for understanding your own personal financial aid. Though, before emailing financial aid with a question I would suggest checking out their website as some of their frequently asked questions can be found here: https://financialaid.sfsu.edu/home. Below are a few tips for when contacting financial aid:

• Format: When formatting your email there is no need to overthink this. What I would suggest is remaining professional. This means including a subject, salutation, body, closing, and signature. Learning how and becoming familiar with this type of email format is extremely useful when reaching out to various resources!
• Important Inclusions: Important information to include in your email is your student ID, first and last name, and ensuring that your subject line is reflective of the email topic. This ensures they know which student they are supporting and how to best support them. Beyond that, including grammar and proper syntax is important to avoid confusing the reader to ensure that they can best support you and understand where you need support!

Complete the 2021-2022 FAFSA or California Dream Act Application Now!    2021–2022 FAFSA and California Dream Act applications are now available. We recommend completing before the March 2, 2021 priority deadline.

Learn how to make appointments with TASC and their other resources

As an SFSU student, you have free access to TASC. The TASC stands for Tutoring and Advising Support Center, offers skilled tutors to assist students in their courses. The tutoring will be online with Zoom. Students can make one time appointments or weekly appointments.

To schedule an appointment, students must log in to Navigator. The TASC department has a list of tutors available for your course.

Appointments start February 1, Monday-Thursday from 8 am-8 pm, Friday from 8 am-2 pm, and are 30 minutes to an hour-long.

There is a virtual reception where you can talk with the front desk staff and schedule an appointment, ask questions, and, if possible, schedule a drop in.

Drop-ins would usually be about a quick question, or to quickly check in with an essay. They are on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Drop-in times are Monday-Thursday 10 am-4 pm, Friday 10 am-2 pm.

Group tutoring is study sessions in a workshop form. It will be about a particular course or specific area. The schedule will be coming soon.