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The Rice Thresher
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by Olivia Allison Thresher editorial staff Julia Benz believes Rice is part of her destiny. At least that's what she said when explaining her arrival as the new director of Student Financial Services. In the early 1980s, the North Dakota native chose the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities' anthropology graduate school over Rice's. But fate intended Rice to be her current destination. "It was just meant to be," she said. Benz was hired at the end of July after former Student Financial Services Director Carl Buck resigned in May. Benz left her job as the director of financial aid at Macalester College - a private liberal arts school in Minnesota - to come to Rice. Benz said she is excited about beginning her new job Oct. 1 and was impressed by the financial services staff when she came for staff training. Benz said she plans to improve the functioning of financial services' office technology by upgrading to the Profile system through the College Board. This system helps determine student need more accurately than Rice's one-page financial aid application (See Story, Page 4). Benz said she has worked with the Profile system for six years at Macalester, and that the program is a useful resource. "I'm very much a believer that it's the best data collection tool that we have available to supply data," she said. Benz said she believes that once the new and existing software are improved, the staff's relationship to the campus will improve. "My goal and mission is to have a state-of-the-art financial aid office that works well in a timely way and delivers all the services we need to offer," she said. "My idea is to have a low-maintenance office, where students usually only have to visit us once. "Technology is important because we don't want dumb things goofing us up. We want to make sure we're technically proficient and make sure that we know what we're doing." Wright said because Buck's resignation came so late in the financial aid hiring season, she decided to rely on personal contacts to find a replacement rather than hire a firm to perform the search. "The hiring season for admission and financial aid positions tends to be in late spring and early summer," Wright said. "We chose to use a search committee instead [of a firm] because it would be faster, and we could use personal connections more." Vice President for Enrollment Ann Wright said Benz's background at Macalester made her a good choice for the job. "Her understanding about private education and the need for individual packaging and individual working with students was very attractive," Wright said. Wright said Buck had worked at a public university, which required adjustment when he began working at Rice in October 1999. Buck's interest in public and government funding was what drew him to his current job as Senior Vice President of Operations at the New Mexico Higher Education Assistance Foundation. "We didn't have any problems with [Buck]," Wright said. "But having come from a public institution to a private institution, there were some changes, and it took a while to get that straightened out." Benz said the opportunity to work for Wright, who is well-known in the financial aid community, influenced her decision to come to Rice. "Ann Wright is known nationally for being a savvy, deep thinker about financial and policy issues, and the chance to work with her at an institution like Rice is a phenomenal opportunity for me," she said. And, she continued, Rice's recent fiscal policy was also a factor. "The leaders and president of this university are making very sound decisions right now," Benz said. "I like being on a winning team - I'm a former All-American swimmer in college, and I know that Rice is the team I want to be on."
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