Students receiving financial aid might be guided by a financial aid advisory board in the future.

Financial Aid Director Jerry Augsburger met with NIU Student Association President Huda Scheidelman and NIU Student Affairs Associate Vice President Barbara Henley last week to discuss the formation of an advisory board.

The advisory board for NIU’s Financial Aid Office (FAO) is in the planning stage, Augsburger said. There is a possibility that a Financial Aid Advisory Board might exist someday, but the idea is still in the process of discussion, he said.

“There are problems within the FAO that students don’t feel are being addressed,” Scheidelman said. The board would solve the problems within the office and serve students in a way they deserve to be served, she said.

The board will begin alleviating problems within the FAO by addressing complaints in the FAO’s suggestion box. Long lines, busy phone lines and lost forms are some concerns voiced by students.

Scheidelman said she hopes to prevent lost forms by instituting a receipt system. A receipt will be given to students to prove they have handed in a financial aid form.

With the receipt system, the “FAO can’t say ‘we never got your form,'” Scheidelman said.

The proposed 11-member board would consist of two undergraduates, a minority undergraduate, a graduate or law student, a faculty member, an admissions office member, a bursar’s office member, an FAO member, a computing facilities member, a member from minority service on campus and another member from student affairs, Scheidelman said.

Scheidelman said minorities will play an important role on the advisory board because 48 percent of all NIU minorities receive financial aid.