The OCU financial aid twitter account, @OKCUaid4U, is working to boost students’ spirits with engaging posts and activities.
Meaghan McEwen, student services specialist, is the administrator of the account. She said the goal during in-person classes is to provide financial aid support in a fun away.
“Typically, we have a post scheduled Monday through Friday and will occasionally post something on the weekend as well,” McEwen said. “Before online learning began, our schedule was myth-busting Monday, terminology Tuesday, workforce Wednesday, Thursday thoughts and free money Friday.”
Now that the class have gone online, McEwen said financial aid has additional responsibilities in helping the students cope emotionally.
“I think our main goal is still the same. We want to make sure students know what financial aid opportunities are out there for them,” McEwen said. “But, given the current world climate, we felt like it was also really important to keep the wellbeing of our students, in a non-school sense, at the forefront of everything.”
McEwen said financial aid has decided to give students another outlet to break up their day of online learning. The new weekly social media schedule includes a creative challenge Monday, travel Tuesday and work-it Wednesday. Thursday thoughts and free money Friday have remained.
McEwen said an example of the new schedule is the structure of travel Tuesday.
“Travel Tuesday is a chance for students to virtually get out of their houses for a few minutes. There are so many great virtual tours available online right now,” McEwen said. “We’ve already shared with students virtual tours of the Louvre, the Georgia Aquarium web-cams, and National Parks.”
McEwen said the most recent travel Tuesday took students to the Great Barrier Reef with David Attenborough.
“It may not seem like a big deal to everyone who follows us on Twitter, but I hope that there are students who appreciate the mini-vacation and use it as a time to decompress a little bit,” McEwen said.
McEwen said the recent events have resulted in a slight increase of Twitter engagement, but she said building the account is not the current priority for financial aid.
“Generally, we haven’t seen an increase in comments, but we have gained a few more followers and are getting more link clicks and likes than we did previously. During this time, it’s less about having a successful twitter and more about students having a way to take a break each day which is beneficial to both them and their education,” McEwen said. “We don’t want students to be more overwhelmed than they already are, so these breaks can be a nice change of scenery.”
McEwen said she plans to continue posting updates to the twitter account through the end of the semester.
“Everyone is adjusting to a new normal, and so are we. We want to be sure to still give students information about end-of-year requirements and important financial aid or student account announcements, but we don’t want it to be all business all the time,” McEwen said. “I think we can strike a balance that gets important information out while still having much-needed fun in the process.”
Anna Luczynski, theatre and performance junior, said she has been impressed by how applicable these posts have been to her as a student.
“While the easy access to scholarship options is my favorite aspect, they tweet even more helpful information throughout the week,” Luczynski said. “They post financial aid reminders to keep students on top of deadlines and even tips on how to qualify for more aid.”
McEwen said she hopes these changes provide some relief to the many students and faculty who are struggling to find direction with the stress caused the current pandemic.
“College isn’t easy in general, but college during a pandemic is a new kind of challenge,” McEwen said. “We hope the changes we’ve made will help relieve some stress and make this strange time a little easier to navigate.”
McEwen said any ideas students have for quotes, creative challenges or virtual tours are welcome. Students can interact with the financial aid twitter account, @OKCUAid4U.
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