Busy time for HJC – Kid care fair Friday – Blood Drive next Monday – Are you coming to either event?

Student Loan Getting You Down?

Student loans are a great way to help cover the cost of your education, but they can get out of control if you haven’t planned on how you are going to pay them back.

HJC has posted a new video to YouTube.com that shows what an out of control student loan can do to your life…check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H28FpEBUepQ

At HJC, we want to make sure all students and graduates get the tools they need to manage their student loans. If you are having problems or know of someone that needs help with a student loan….let us know! We can help!

HJC now on Twitter

Blogs are great when we have a lot to share, but sometimes it is fun just to see what is going on through out the day at HJC. We now have a twitter account you can follow!

http://twitter.com/hjcupdate

Logon and join!

WV Financial Aid Deadline

It’s time for our students who live in West Virginia to begin the financial aid process again.

To be considered for the WV Higher Education Grant you must complete the 2009-10 FAFSA…..AND the WV Higher Education Grant application before March 1, 2009.

The WV Higher Education Grant a grant sponsored by the state of West Virginia, and does not have to be repaid. Please apply even if you have never been eligible for Pell grant in previous years.

The 2009-10 award year doesn’t start until July 1, 2009, but the deadline to apply is March 1.

The websites are www.fafsa.ed.gov and www.wvapply.com.

Please send me an e-mail to let me know you have completed both applications, and I’ll mark you off my list!

Darlene

Computer Upgrades

HJC will be upgrading the computer system on Thursday, January 22, from 10:00 pm – 5:00 am EST. This will allow us to be able to provide 1098T statements for student taxes.

During this upgrade, you will not be able to access the student portal (www.myhjc.com) or your online classes. Please adjust your plans as necessary.

New Weekend Computer Lab Hours

As more and more people and places make computers and internet services available, HJC has noticed a significant reduction in the number of students using the computer lab hours. Consequently, HJC will be changing the weekend hours for computer labs.

For the Winter Quarter 2009, the computer labs will be open the following 3 Saturdays from noon – 2:00 pm.

January 17
February 7
March 7

Please make sure you plan according if you want to use the computer labs at HJC. As always, the computer labs will be available the following times during the week:

Monday 7:00 am – 8:00 am and 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday – 7:00 am – 8:00 am and 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Friday 7:00 am – 8:00 am and 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Holiday Hours at HJC

With the holidays fast approaching, HJC will be adjusting the normal operating hours to allow staff time to spend with family and friends. Following is the schedule through January 2.

 

December 22 – Office open 9 – 5  - Grades mailed out

December 23 – Office open 9 – noon

December 24 – 26 Office Closed

December 29 – Office open 9 – 5

December 30 – Office open 9 – 7 pm

December 31 – Office open 9 – noon

January 1 – Office Closed

January 2 – Office open 10 – 4

HJC Students Give Back to the Community

HJC students made this year’s giving tree one of the most successful ever. HJC students “adopted” 16 children from the local Salvation Army’s Angel Tree. Students then picked gifts from the children’s wish list and purchased the items for them.

The HJC honor society students helped wrap and organize the gifts for delivery to the Salvation Army.

Thanks to all of those that helped make the holidays a little brighter for local residents.

HJC Gifts

Thanksgiving Food Drive

Have you ever wanted to help a neighbor in need, but just can’t find a way? At HJC we make it easy. Each year the college holds a Thanksgiving food drive. Students can donate nonperishable food items which will be used to fill 10 baskets for HJC students. You can bring 1 item to donate or you can donate more. EVERY donation helps a HJC student.

To participate, bring your non-perishable food item to the front office. There is a donation box in the front hall way. The college will buy turkeys, eggs, milk, butter and break to put in each basket. All donations must be turned in by Wednesday, November 19. The baskets will be distributed on Thursday, November 20 and Friday, November 21.

This is a great way for you to help. Please see Marsha or Karen if you have any questions.

4-Day School Week?

Students at Huntington Junior College recently had the opportunity to vote on the possibility of changing to a 4-day school week. This proposal would have changed Monday/Wednesday/Friday classes to meet only on Monday and Wednesday and extend the length of each class to match that of Tuesday/Thursday classes.

In total, 60% of the students supported the concept and 40% did not. Although this is a majority, the reasons the 40% voted “NO” were very sound. The reasons included:

·         Many students cannot make it to an 8:00 class or have to be home before 3:00 because of their children’s school or daycare schedule. This would prohibit these students from being a full-time student attending Monday/Wednesday.

·         Increasing the length class time from 1 hour  10 minutes to 1 hour 40 minutes would make the classes harder for some students

·         Increasing the number of days between class meetings (Wednesday to Monday) would make students more likely to forget material covered on Wednesdays

Given the reasons, and the failure to obtain at least 2/3 of the vote for the proposed change, the administration has decided to maintain the existing schedule at this time.

Please see Carolyn Smith or Cathy Snoddy if you have any questions or concerns.