Transfer students say FU’s adjustment efforts are lacking

Dear Fairfield,

the transfer students.

Each year, transfer students try to start anew at Fairfield University after deciding their first college choice wasn’t working.

Some of the this year’s 36 transfer students said the school is still trying to learn how to make them comfortable, citing problems with an orientation lunch held by a number of students, faculty and administration to help the new students acclimate to the university the day before classes began.

“It was difficult because we were all nervous, nobody knew each other,” said Melissa Lopes, who transferred from Sacred Heart University.

“They spoke at us for about an hour and a half and then we were instantly viewed as regular Fairfield students,” said Sarah Regan, who transferred from Loyola Marymount, “I didn’t even know how to get to my classes.”

Brian Hadley ’06, from Stonehill College, and his roommate Zack Bestor, from SUNY Albany, both transferred into Fairfield in the fall with sufficient credits to become sophomores.

They are still identified as a freshmen by their StagCards and email addresses, though, and Hadley was temporarily denied access to a parking sticker at the beginning of the year.

Debnam Chappell, the Dean of Freshmen advised all 36 incoming sophomores last summer and will do so again this summer. She insists that any decision about graduation years are solely based on amount of transfer credits.

“I do not know the source of the discontent that the students feel,” she said.

Michelle Towle, who transfered from Central Connecticut State University, explained why transfer students at Fairfield are unhappy with the way they have been treated so far.

“I think we should have been given an earlier chance to explore the campus, the new procedures, and to meet new people before the pressures of academics began,” she said.

FUSA president Paul Duffy ’05 disagreed with the need for a change and Dean of Students Mark Reed said he had received positive feedback on the orientation.

But Towle said that the university needs to step up their efforts.

“I feel the university puts exceptional effort into comforting the incoming freshmen, and much less focus on transfer students,” said Towle.

The inability to attain financial aid from Fairfield University as a transfer student is another cause for concern.

According to the Fairfield’s Guide to Transfer Admission, one of the only ways to receive substantial institutional scholarships is a renewable $5,000 Phi Theta Kappa scholarship which is available for students who possess an associate’s degree and are members of the two-year college honor society.

This scholarship, along with the entire admission and financial aid process for transfer students is currently being considered for review and may be enhanced in the future, according to Erin Chiaro, the director of financial aid at Fairfield.

Other financial aid opportunities include federal need-based aid, including work study and the Stafford loan. Institutional aid is limited and distributed to transfer students based on their degree of need.

How does Fairfield’s transfer aid measure up to other universities with similar tuition?

Brown University has a newly instated financial aid installment for incoming transfer students whose total comes to around $400,000 per year.

Brown respects the transfer student state of mind that pushes them to relocate, mostly for the sake of education. The university is a self proclaimed “example of the way that universities today circumscribe free expression,” according to its president Ruth Simmons as quoted in the Brown Daily Herald.

Diane Fields, who relocated to Fairfield in the fall of ’04, has some advice for Fairfield University and any future transfer students.

“Transferring is a major decision and people need to regard it as such.”