With the end of the semester rapidly approaching, many graduating seniors are preparing for the next level of adulthood. Florida A&M University is known for setting students up for postgraduate success, but some graduating seniors say that there are many areas where the university can improve.
Graduating senior and agriculture business major Khya Nelson says that although she enjoyed her experience at FAMU, she wishes the school would have prepared her more for the real world.
“I would like to see more resources geared towards filing taxes, negotiating salaries, budgeting, investing, etc.,” Nelson said. “Graduates going from undergraduate to full-time jobs will make more money than ever. It is important, especially as minorities, to be financially aware and know how to properly handle money to set us up for financial freedom in the long run.”
Besides the lack of preparation for the real world, many graduating seniors have had a difficult time financially in their last year.
“The greatest difficulty I have encountered is financial. The scholarship awarded over the past three years was not granted to me during my final semester of college. This scholarship covered my rent expenses each semester,” Nelson said. “Not receiving this scholarship, with no valid explanation has caused me more financial stress as I prepare to enter the workforce. As a summa cum laude graduate, this is extremely frustrating and makes me ponder what capacity I will give back to my college and institution.”
In conjunction with financial struggles, many graduating seniors feel that FAMU’s financial aid department can do an overall better job of assisting seniors financially.
Graduating senior and psychology major — with a minor in business administration — Kayla Stanton says that the financial aid office needs to work on transparency with graduating seniors.
“An area of improvement for FAMU regarding graduating seniors would be educating seniors and other students on financial aid and making FAMU resources and contacts surrounding financial aid more reliable and accessible,” Stanton said.
Graduating senior and biology major Alexis Sincere said that as a first-generation college student, she has felt neglected and lost through this process of applying for graduation.
“I do feel that FAMU needs to dedicate more time to seniors; I had the worst time trying to apply for graduation. I am a first-generation college student, and there is no handbook on how to do certain things,” Sincere said. “The lack of organization in the biology department has made it very difficult. It is very disheartening knowing that your parents dropped you off here expecting advisers to look after you and make sure you’re on the right track, and they are not doing that. These past four years, I have been advising myself and missed out on many opportunities due to a lack of knowledge of what was happening.”