Just more of the same

Every year students at Southern University and A&M College experience problems with Financial Aid, it’s been like this for a while now. This is nothing new.
So why is everyone surprised?
I know this is an institution of higher learning and we should strive for excellence yadda, yadda, yadda. But I believe this has been going on since the 1980s when my parents attended Southern.
Some things never change.
However this is something that should change. Students, don’t you get tired of waiting in long lines in the Seymour for hours on end just to be told that you need another form and to come back tomorrow.
Not to worry, they’ve given you a gold or black ticket!
Employees, don’t you get tired of working through lunch breaks, seeing the faces of students when you tell them that they forgot to sign their promissory note and to come back tomorrow and working long hours asking, “What’s your student number?” 
This is not all the University’s fault.
Students, we need to take responsibility of our own problems. College, but Southern especially gives us the opportunity to find the perserverance, determination and persistence you need to make it at Southern.
But let me ask these few questions, how many students who waited in line at 3am, called Channel 9 News or were turned around because Seymour was at capacity filled out their FAFSA after the deadline?
How many waited until the week before school to check on Financial Aid Status?
How many caught an attitude with workers thinking that’ll scare them into processing your work?
I could go on and on…
Maybe THIS is why students say, “Once I get my diploma, I ain’t giving Southern one red cent.” A good number of students go through hell and high water during every Registration Week and Alumni Presidents wonder why the alumni aren’t giving back.
Would you want to give money to a place where people who are supposed to put the students first but, never answered the phone, returned emails, processed paperwork, lost paperwork, etc.? Well I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t.
What’s that Kwanzaa word? Ujima! Yeah, that’s it! It means Collective Work and Responsibility, to build and maintain our community together and make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems, and to solve them together.
We need to work together. Like the past SGA President, Stanley White said (many times), “One accord on the yard!” Students need to fill out their FAFSAs on time and check on their status before Registration Week. ALL university employees (not just those in the Office of Financial Aid) need to return after their lunch break, answer telephone calls and emails; you know things that are in their job description.
We are all dependent on each other. We all need to be more patient with each other.
But through it all, the students love #TeamSU and have a love-hate relationship with the staff, faculty and administrators. We love Southern! And we hate when people who know nothing about the University talk about it!
O Southern, Dear Southern, we owe our all to Thee. In downfall or victory, we’ll always loyal be.