Letter to the Editor:

Dear Editor,

In the Aug. 28 article, “Student gives up on waiting game,” WSU’s Executive Director of External Communication Darin Watkins said, “I know this is an issue, but it’s not a problem.” 

The article goes on to state Watkins’ opinion that the lack of financial aid disbursements “…would be a problem if students could not attend classes, pay tuition or eat in the dining halls.”

In making such statements Watkins reveals how woefully out of touch he and WSU’s senior administration are about the impact the financial aid has on student life.

To help Watkins gain some sense of awareness about the realities of student life, here is a statistic provided by WSU’s Office of Institutional Research. Last academic year, 64 percent of WSU undergraduates lived off-campus.

For these students who live off-campus, their inability to pay rent is a “problem,” not an “issue.”  For students without a meal plan, this is a “problem,” not an “issue.” As well as, in paying for other off-campus expenses such as phone bills or insurance premiums, this constitutes a “problem,” not an “issue.”

WSU students deserve better than Watkins’ flippant and dismissive remarks.

Jason B. McConnell

Graduate Student

Edward R. Murrow College of Communication