By Alex Ginsberg
It is not every day that people get excited about administrative offices.
But such was the case Monday as LaGuardia Community College President Gail Mellow and City Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Sunnyside) announced $2.25 million in funding for the college’s new One Stop Center — a complex of offices designed to house the bursar, registrar, financial aid and several other important college departments all in one place.
Standing in a poorly lit, drab corridor in LaGuardia’s Building C on Thomson Avenue and 30th Street in Long Island City, Mellow promised to “bring financial aid out of a windowless basement” and “bring services to students up into the light.”
The money, which will total nearly $5 million when matching funds from the state are included, will enhance an anchor institution in the community and cut red tape for the roughly 40,000 students, many of whom are new to the United States and the first in their families to go on to higher education.
“It’s about cutting through bureaucracy and about making sure that when people go to college, they’re spending time in the classroom with each other learning, and not on lines trying to deal with their tuition or their financial aid,” the councilman said.
A key part of the plan for the center is to cross-train administrative officers, so that students can solve registration, financial aid, payment and admissions problems all by talking to one person.
Preliminary work has already begun on the project, but major construction will start in a few months, Mellow said. The One Stop Center should be complete by the start of the 2004-05 academic year.
The center will inhabit the first floor of a nine-story building, formerly the site of the International Design Center New York, which was acquired by the college in 1998.
Describing LaGuardia Community College a “laboratory for democracy,” Gioia called attention to the opportunities it provided for the borough’s large immigrant population. He also said that together with Silvercup Studios’ expansion and the construction of new residential towers on the waterfront, the college was a key component in the ongoing revitalization of Long Island City.
“When you see something going right in New York, it’s our obligation to make sure it continues and to put the money where the talent is, and it’s right here at LaGuardia College,” he said.
Reach reporter Alex Ginsberg by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 157.
