Soon students will no longer be able to access financial aid and admissions on Main Campus, as plans to move the Student Services Center are in the works.
The center, now in Mesa Vista Hall, will relocate most of its student-oriented amenities to the old Lockheed Martin building off of University Boulevard and Avenida Cesar Chavez - about one mile from UNM - by the spring semester.
Carmen Alvarez Brown, vice president for Enrollment Management, said all student services relating to enrollment will move into the new building as part of her plan to improve the organization of student enrollment.
"It will include enrollment services - which are the services that assist students that have an affinity to the University from the very beginning, such as transfer services, recruitment, admissions, financial aid and registration," she said.
Ava Lovell, vice president of finance, said UNM doesn't have a plan for the spaces to be left in Mesa Vista Hall, but they are likely to be filled quickly.
"Space is more scarce than money at the University, so I'm sure that there will be plans for it," she said.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Brown said the transition to the center's new location on the outskirts of campus will be made easy for students, as UNM shuttles will take passengers to the center every half hour from all shuttle stops.
The cost of the move was not available Tuesday, but Brown said the building will need to be renovated to prepare for the center.
"The only thing we would have to bring is our computers with us, and then there will be some expenses in terms of the redesigning for the visitor center, which is to be able to do presentations," she said. "But we're trying to keep it at a minimum."
Marianne Presser, accounting manager for student accounts receivable, said the Bursar's Office, including student accounting and the cashier's office, is not part of the relocation plan.
"They're not going to be thinking about (only) the students and leaving us out of it, but it has to be a discussion between two different organizations, basically," she said.
Lovell said that although the Bursar's Office will not be moving, a cashier's office might be added to the new center.
Alex Riebli, vice president of ASUNM, said he has heard many complaints from students saying the move is a bad idea.
"I'm one of those students that has had trouble with financial aid and has had trouble with certain offices, and I know how important it is to contact them and get there and be there on campus and be able to walk across - especially with student employment," he said. "That was a big one with some of the e-mails."
Riebli said the University should reconsider moving student services to South Campus because it will be a major inconvenience for students.
"Having to bus them down there just so that they can straighten out some financial aid or make sure they're getting their Pell Grant - that's definitely the opposite side that I don't agree with," he said.
Brown said she plans for the building to function as a welcome center for visitors.
"Most big universities have a welcome center, and this University aim is to have a huge welcome center where we can provide students with basic counseling, advisement, registration, and it's also going to have the Veterans' Center - the new center that we're starting out for veterans," she said.
In his Sept. 8 Monday morning message, President David Schmidly said the center will hold specialized student services as well.
"It will one day house academic advisement for student athletes as well as the UNM Veterans' Center," he said. "The center will serve as a one-stop shop for all of our students and will be a great tool for them to utilize throughout their years at UNM."
Brown said the plans for the move are not finalized. She has to work with space restrictions to determine just which offices will partake in the move, but financial aid and admissions will definitely go, she said.
