What Do Students Want?
All of us in Finance and Administrative Services provide services either directly or indirectly to students – students are the focus of what we do. So when you think about the work you do, the services that you provide, the students coming to campus, or looking at the campus website while considering choosing Cal State San Marcos as their university, what do you think they want? For many of you it may be even more personal – perhaps you’ve been a student, are a student, have a daughter or son or grandchild that is a student, have a neighbor that is a student, work with a student assistant, or just know a student. I would like to hear your thoughts. Thank you.
posted by Neal R. Hoss @ 8:51 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
I do think that it's a great idea to put students first. We often put together processes for the convenience of faculty or staff, but might forget that it might negatively impact students. In an age where students are expecting more "service" from universities, it's great to re-examine our processes from their perspective and make sure we put students first.
In my conversations with many students on campus, and their parents, I find that they want a simple and efficient way to take care of their business. They want to be able to talk to a live person when they call the university with a question. They want a clear path to the correct people to ask their questions. They don't want to have to hunt down the payment office, the financial aid office, their pay checks etc. They want their advisors to be where they say they will be with specific office hours posted. They want more than one choice of time and instructor for mandatory general education classes. They want instant updates in changes to schedules and classes. In short they want their university life and experience simplified, electronic and compact.
I will speak from the view point of a parent and what I have heard from my daughters, one who graduated from Cal State San Marcos and the other who is currently a student at another college. They want to easily access information and file paperwork (preferably on the web); they don't want to wait in long lines to transact business (their time is valuable); they want to at least receive an acknowledgement of their phone call or email within 24 hours even if it is to say that an answer is being researched (they do not want to be ignored); and they want to be treated with respect. For my daughter who attended CSUSM, she wanted more parking at less cost!
Thank you for the comments. I received a call from a parent today that dialed my direct line accidentally. As I slowly attempted to help the parent help her daughter, I had to disclose that she had reached the wrong number and when asked, I confessed to being a vice president. She was very grateful that I even picked up the phone and commented that the campus impresses her because there are people that answer phones and answer questions...and that because of that she is going to send her younger daughter to CSUSM too. She closed by telling me that she wanted me to tell my boss ("the dean or the president or whoever it is") that she appreciated the phone being answered.
Students (and parents) want the streamlined service that they've become accustomed to online - they want to add us to their cart, check out, and log off. It is irrelevant to them what division or department we work in - to the campus community we're all staff at CSUSM. That's a good thing.
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