Image courtesy of Pueblo PULP

Just like children in school, Pueblo received its own report card last week in the area of economics. Instead of parents gathering to hear the reports, local businessmen and women from multiple different facets like real estate agencies and other businesses attended the Pueblo Economic Forum for 2016.

According to the information presented at the forum, Pueblo is below average in aspects of job growth, median income, quality of labor force crime management, reputation, self-image and test scores in school districts D60 and D70.

Despite ranking below average in these areas, the city does remain above average with the higher educational institutions, Colorado State University-Pueblo and Pueblo Community College, the health care system, low cost of living and arts and quality of life.

The economic forum, which was sponsored by U.S. Bank and CSU -Pueblo’s Malik and Seeme Hasan School of Business, was held Oct. 11 at the Pueblo Union Depot.

The first part of the forum featured Norman Alvis, vice president and senior portfolio manager for U.S. Bank, discussing an overview of economic successes and challenges on a global and national scale and then transitioned to Mike Wakefield, professor of management in the Hasan School of Business at CSU-Pueblo, discussing economic and financial challenges and trends locally.

“There is opportunity in Pueblo, but you have to be willing to go look for it,” Wakefield said.

“We have a great infrastructure and an increasing number of positive activities. It may seem daunting to get involved at first, but be willing to put yourself out a little bit.”

Wakefield explained that Pueblo’s reputation–stemming from the slight increase in violent crimes and articles written reflecting the problems nationally–is a factor that hinders drawing in businesses to come to Pueblo. Additionally, local economic trends not growing as strong or quickly as state levels such as in the job growth sector, also hinder outside businesses from wanting to expand to Pueblo.

“It is difficult to attract businesses and high caliber employers, like faculty, when a quick online search yields unsavory stories about Pueblo’s school district(s) and crime rates,” he said.

Wakefield said another challenge for the local economic improvement had been the local ‘brain drain,’ due to those with with bachelor’s degree or higher education moving away.

Despite those with higher education moving out of Pueblo, there was a slight increase in those with bachelor’s degree education or higher moving to Pueblo from 2015 to 2016. However, this slight improvement was not enough to balance out the overall “brain drain” situation.

He discussed a solution for the brain drain challenge, creating an innovation center that would be located in downtown Pueblo and provide resources and workspaces for entrepreneurial minded individuals and those looking to start up businesses, thereby transforming the “brain drain” to a “brain draw.”

Wakefield’s presentation showed that fostering this kind of institution is something progressive communities like Denver, Fort Collins and Boulder among other cities in the state have done.

The potential for the construction of the innovation center is gaining support from many people both in and out of Pueblo. Additional support for the idea has just recently come into the eye of interest of city council members he explained.

“We face some challenges in the future, and in order to best meet those challenges, we need all functions in our community performing well,” he said.

Wakefield presented other potential solutions to local economic and social challenges at the forum, including tackling crime in a reactive way by increasing the local police force and, in a proactive way, by working with at-risk neighborhoods on a local level.

Additional solutions, such as promoting Pueblo’s positive points and stories in a widespread manner to begin to change its reputation and promote its most appealing points and to create a system of ‘economic gardening’ and fostering the labor force currently in the community while recruiting for the jobs and labor wanted in the future at the same time to transition and enhance the workforce locally, were also discussed.

“We do not have to accept the status quo. We can influence our destiny, but it will require thought, planning and plain hard work,” Wakefield said.

For more information and continually updated figures for both Colorado and Pueblo economies, visit sites.google.com/site/hsbeconomicdata for reference.

Timothy Zercher, (L) Taylor Voss (R)
~ photo courtesy of Taylor Voss

The Colorado Small Business Profile for 2016, which is published by the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, reported 572,546 small businesses in Colorado that employ around 1 million people — roughly 48.8 percent of the private workforce.

Colorado has many hubs for small businesses, startups and supporting entrepreneurship in cities like Boulder and Denver. The 2015 Kauffman Index of Startup Activity, published by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, found that 350 out of every 100,000 adults in Colorado became entrepreneurs monthly during 2015.

Pueblo, however, does not yet have a strong platform for startups and entrepreneurship. Taylor Voss and Timothy Zercher, who both graduated from Colorado State University-Pueblo in May, are working to change that in a simple way: over coffee.

Voss, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business management with an emphasis in marketing, came up with the idea for the Pueblo Open Coffee Club after attending a similar-style meetup with Zercher, in Boulder.

“Boulder started their coffee club as a way to take the pulse of their startup community. After attending one of their meetups, I became convinced that this was an idea that could greatly benefit the Pueblo community,” Voss said.

On a national level, the 2016 Kauffman Index of Startup Activity found that the rate of new entrepreneurs translates to about 550,000 new business owners each month. However, startup activity levels overall are still low.

“Unfortunately our city has a much less developed culture and network. However, I think the potential to create a tight-knit startup community in Pueblo is stronger than Boulder or Denver simply because of our size and Pueblo’s culture of determination and hard work,” Zercher said. Zercher graduated with a master’s degree in business administration and minors in finance and an emphasis in international business.

The Colorado Business Economic Outlook for 2016, published by the University of Colorado-Boulder, stated that Pueblo County’s economic indicators are showing improvement.

Additionally, the 2016 Pueblo Economic Forum that hosted by the CSU-Pueblo Malik and Seeme Hasan School of Business and U.S. Bank Oct. 11, discussed that an overall goal is to foster and create an entrepreneurial ecosystem. There was also talk of creating a workspace center in Pueblo, with resources specifically designed for entrepreneurial individuals looking to create, invent and collaborate.

The Facebook page for the Pueblo Open Coffee Club extends an invitation to “all contrarian thinkers, big dreamers, and those who have no respect for the status quo.”

“Startup and entrepreneurial people are a special breed. I wrote the description with that in mind. Its purpose was to attract those unique individuals in the community who are hungry to make a difference,” Voss explained.

According to Voss, the reason startup and entrepreneurial communities like Boulder and Denver are thriving, is due to their “give before you get” culture. He believes that is an aspect that needs to be continually developed and nurtured in Pueblo for similar successes.

The coffee meetings will cover industry trends, current events and entrepreneurial opportunities. A moderator will be appointed.

“I think our challenges will likely be getting the right voices in the room. This is generally a challenge for discussion groups like this,” Zercher said.

However, Zercher expects the group discussions to flow naturally.

“The greatest success I foresee coming from this is a complete cultural shift in the attitude and thinking of our city. The greatest challenge is building that initial community of entrepreneurs,” Voss said.

Networking, collaboration and building opportunities for locals will consistently be underlying goals of the club.

The Pueblo Open Coffee Club is free to the public and will begin meeting Oct. 18 and continue every other Tuesday morning from 8-9 in the Southern Colorado Small Business Development Center at 121 West City Center Drive. Their group’s next meeting will take place Nov. 1.

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/puebloocc.

Edited by: Theresa Wolf

Jane Fraser ~ photo courtesy of csupueblo.edu

Recently, U.S. News and World Report ranked Colorado State University-Pueblo’s undergraduate engineering program at No. 97 on a top 100 list the company published. Only schools that do not offer doctoral programs were ranked. CSU-Pueblo’s program tied for 97th with 13 other schools across the country.

All the participating schools offer programs that are certified by the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology, commonly referred to as ABET. The order was based on peer assessment surveys and opinions of faculty and deans.

Jane Fraser, chair of the engineering department, said everyone in the department was thrilled at the accomplishment, despite not having received a physical award or prize.

She added she was extremely surprised to find out about the ranking.

The only other Colorado school on the list was the United States Air Force Academy, ranked in seventh place.

Fraser explained that even though CSU-Pueblo is not as well-known as other schools, the school’s engineering program has two strengths that made it stand out among others: a strong theoretical foundation and hands-on learning experience.

These two factors, combined with CSU-Pueblo not having doctoral programs and consistently having professors as opposed to graduate students teach undergraduate classes, makes the engineering program strong, Fraser said.

CSU-Pueblo engineering students are required to take a class called “manufacturing processes,” in which they manufacture a product from beginning to end. Something as simple as a nut cracker requires the students to learn and physically engage in acts such as bending metal, cutting metal and even welding.

“We want to graduate students who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. They’ll never weld again, but we also want them to respect the people who do that work,” Fraser said.

The engineering department offers two undergraduate degrees: a Bachelor of Science in industrial engineering and a Bachelor of Science in engineering, with a mechatronics specialization.

Graduates of the CSU-Pueblo engineering programs have been employed by various credible employers, after receiving their diplomas, according to Fraser.

A May 2016 graduate from the engineering department, Travis Hobbs, was employed in July by a specialist consultancy, focused in the world of mining called BMT WBM Denver.

In an email to Fraser from Hobbs, regarding the recent U.S. News and World Report ranking, he stated “The real world is definitely more complex than the classroom, but I feel that my foundation and fundamentals from the classroom are what got me here. I also managed to beat out three candidates from the school of mines.”

Hobbs graduated with a Bachelor of Science in engineering with a specialization in mechatronics and two minors in mathematics and physics.

“The professors will help you just enough to get the wheels turning, which in my opinion is best. It causes you to develop a very detail-oriented work ethic that is crucial in my field since the slightest error can result in tragedy,” he said.

Fraser said the engineering faculty is currently focused on further developing and strengthening the university’s graduate program.

“We are very involved in research, and we want to make sure our master’s program is as strong as our undergraduate program, so we are looking at strengthening parts of that,” she said.

According to Fraser, the engineering department is currently moving forward with cannabis research, specifically related to water and energy use and growing and producing it locally.

“I want to say thank you to my colleagues. This has been a group effort. We work as a team in this department,” Fraser said.

To view the complete U.S. News and World Report rankings list visit:

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-no-doctorate?_mode=list.

Photo courtesy of atf.gov

A career as a special agent right after college graduation investigating arson, explosives, firearms alcohol and tobacco, may sound far-fetched, but a presentation to students on Sept. 27 from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, ATF for short, was there to prove otherwise.

The Colorado State University-Pueblo Career Center was initially contacted back in the spring by the ATF about doing a presentation, but the timing did not work out until recently.

“We do a lot of work in Pueblo. We all know Pueblo is struggling with some violent crime issues right now so getting people interested who are from these areas and who know the issues, we saw a great benefit,” said Lisa Meiman, public information officer and recruiter for the ATF Denver Field Division.

Recent college graduates are in very high demand for ATF agent recruitment, she explained.

“We do hire a lot of former law enforcement and students straight out of college. I can tell you from personal experience it doesn’t make a difference. People that have never been in law enforcement are phenomenal agents. It all really comes down to what you make of it,” said Special Agent Rennie Mora who has been an ATF agent for 12 years and is certified in explosive technologies.

Meiman explained that although ATF is the smallest federal law enforcement agency, half the size of the Drug Enforcement Administration and one-eighth the size of the FBI, the agency investigates more than 90 percent of all explosives-related incidents in the country that are not tied to terrorism.

The ATF Denver Field Division covers Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Montana. Special agents work on cases related alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives, with firearms being the “bread and butter; it’s more than 90 percent of what ATF works on,” Meiman explained.

Meiman also said that in addition to firearm investigation as 90 percent of ATF’s work, cases of arson and explosives almost make up the last 10 percent and the rest are alcohol and tobacco cases.

“Almost everybody comes out and immediately start working firearms cases. ATF’s primary focus right now is removing what we call ‘serial shooters’ from the street. Those are the people going out and pulling the triggers repeatedly. So it’s a very exciting time to be in ATF,” she said.

ATF agents go after street gangs, motorcycle gangs involved in criminal enterprise activities, and interrupt firearm and explosives trafficking among other things to ensure these dangerous weapons do not end up in the wrong hands.

Mora provided insight at the informational meeting into the life of an agent and described it as not being all “fun and games.”

“There are times you’re working seven days straight on a major, major case and it doesn’t make a difference if it’s Christmas, the holidays, mom’s home, mom came in, grandma’s here or somebody’s birthday, it doesn’t matter. When the bell, rings, the bell rings,” he said.

However, there is monetary compensation for being on-call all the time; every pay period agents receive an additional 25 percent of their salary.

In addition to being certified in explosives technology, Mora is also a canine handler 24/7 who works with and takes care of an explosives detector canine named Randi. He said working with a canine is “by far one of the best positions to be in in any federal law enforcement agency.”

ATF special agent positions are not listed online and to apply a resume must be sent directly to Meiman at Denver.recruitment@atf.gov. To apply to be a special agent, the prospective employee must be within nine months of graduating college with a bachelor’s degree.

“The minimum qualifications are to have a bachelor’s degree in any field. Doesn’t matter. Basket weaving? We’re happy,” Meiman said.

She said she hopes the students who attended the information session learned more about the careers and opportunities ATF offers as well as the agency as a whole.

“It’s challenging, not just for you as an individual, but also your family members and whoever you’re with, so that’s something to think about too. If you want to do this, and it’s what you have a passion for, it is not just you. It is also everybody else who comes along with you as well, so just remember that,” Mora said.

The ATF Denver Field Division does occasionally offer internships; those interested should contact Meiman at least six months in advance so an extensive background check can be performed and completed. The position is unpaid but offers flexible hours.

For more information about ATF, visit www.atf.gov.

Edited by: Theresa Wolf

Image courtesy of www.fountain-crk.org

For the past three years, groups of Colorado State University-Pueblo student volunteers, sports teams and community members have come together to clean up the Fountain Creek Watershed.

This year’s event took place between Sept. 24 and Oct. 2 and focused on clearing trash and debris from the watershed area.

“If you don’t know, Fountain Creek tends to be a pretty polluted waterway,” said Abby Davidson, Propel Center director at CSU-Pueblo.

“There’s lots of waste affluent and things like that that go in from Colorado Springs and run down to Pueblo and things that go in from Pueblo and run down.”

This year, 25 students from the university participated in the kickoff cleanup on Sept. 24. Davidson promotes the event mainly in two biology classes and to the President’s Leadership Program and Honors Program on campus.

According to Davidson, both Biology 181 professors offer extra credit as an incentive for student participation in Creek Week each year.

“It’s not too hard. Students are motivated by extra credit, so that can be an initial motivator, but then students tend to have fun doing it and do it year after year,” she said.

Alliyah Gifford, a junior biology major at CSU-Pueblo, was initially motivated by extra credit but has since participated twice and plans to continue participating in the future.

“When we realized how bad everything was down there and thought ‘OK, this is affecting all the streams, Fountain Creek, it goes way far down. I thought ‘this is ugly,’” Gifford explained.

This time, she participated without the extra credit incentive and brought along some of her friends to help out.

“Just being outside honestly and knowing you’re doing something positive and motivating other people to get out and strive to do better things, is the best part,” she said.

According to fountaincreekweek.com, the very first event was held in 2014. The mission is “to bring the Fountain Creek Watershed communities together to foster the health of our local waterways for its citizens and wildlife alike.”

“I think it helps us connect to other community entities a lot of times. I think it’s hard, especially for first-year students that might not be from Pueblo to get out in the community and actually see more of it. It gives them a more in-depth view of natural settings,” Davidson said.

In addition to getting out in the community, Davidson said Creek Week also sheds light on the transient community and homelessness problem in Pueblo.

“The trail itself can be relatively clean, but if you go 10 feet off in either direction, you’re going to get into some encampment areas and some pretty unsafe conditions,” Davidson said.

“That has been unfortunate to see, and I know it is part of a larger issue of homelessness and drug issues in our community. So it, unfortunately, brings that a little bit more into focus I think for folks that perhaps maybe don’t see that. It’s sobering as well as a good thing to be a part of,” Davidson explained.

She said she anticipates more participation in years to come as interest and involvement from CSU-Pueblo students has been increasing steadily each year for the event.

Image courtesy of csupueblo.edu

With previous projections of a 4.7 percent decline in enrollment for the 2016-17 school year based on regional enrollment trends, Colorado State University-Pueblo came in not quite on top but leveled out.

In fall 2015, there were 4,243 students enrolled, which included 792 first-year students. This fall, the enrollment headcount was 4,242 students, which included 835 first-year students.

“We far exceeded those projections by coming in flat. Now, flat may not sound very good to you, but believe you me, it’s better than being down. We will continue to see enrollment initiatives…,” President Leslie Di Mare said at the State of the University Address, Sept. 12.

The retention rate was previously at 65 percent and grew to 66 percent. Di Mare said she is hopeful that this will continue and reach 70 percent with the help of new software called Starfish, which is designed to help universities manage and increase retention rates.

Currently, CSU-Pueblo has enrolled students from 43 states and 34 countries and strengthened enrollment by students from Arizona, New Mexico, Hawaii and Washington, according to Chrissy Holliday, vice president of enrollment management and student affairs.

“The university has been working on bouncing back from an enrollment decline in 2012 after new policies were implemented correcting what had been a downward trend in our new student enrollment, stabilizing overall enrollments,” Holliday stated.

“Then building those to optimum levels that will allow us to maximize institutional resources,” she continued.

“CSU-Pueblo has turned a corner… We said it would take four years, and it did, but the point is we did it. It is hard to move the dial on these numbers, but as long as we’re moving forward, that is what counts,” Di Mare said.

Student life and experience at CSU-Pueblo are the main focuses in growing the enrollment and retention figures in the future, according to Di Mare.

Holliday says the administration is currently looking to implement high-in-demand and student-requested degree programs to increase further enrollment in the future.

“I believe CSU-Pueblo has room to grow, and I think doing so in a measured and intentional way, will enable us to attain enrollment consistency,” Holliday said.

“It all comes down to building relationships with prospective students and their families that allow them to see this institution as the right place for them. Then delivering excellent service, academics and student life experiences once they are here,” Holliday added.

Additionally, she explained that enrollment trends could be related to economic issues and even variations in high school graduation, birth and death rates.

“Enrollment is a multifaceted issue. In our case, we are emerging from a period of decline in high school graduates regionally,” Holliday said.

“In addition, transfer student populations can be very volatile one year to the next and are easily impacted by changes in the economy. College enrollments tend to climb when the economy is bad and jobs are hard to find, then dip once people begin returning to the workforce,” Holliday added.

Di Mare said she hopes to see growth in the freshmen class, transfers and nontraditional students in the years to come after her retirement from the university in June 2017.

She remains confident that growth can still be made even after she leaves.

“It took the whole university to make this happen, not just me,” Di Mare said.

Edited by: Theresa Wolf

Image courtesy of koaa.com

Twelve vehicle-related crimes have occurred on the Colorado State University-Pueblo campus since the beginning of August. The number was confirmed by Lieutenant David Clements of the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office at the university.

Additionally, three vehicles that had keys left inside were stolen, all of which have been recovered since. No suspects have been identified in the crimes.

The university alert system had previously issued two warnings about criminal activities on campus to students and staff. One before school started and one during the first week of the fall semester.

“The vehicles that were broken (into) had personal items left out in plain view in the passenger compartment or in the glove box. The suspects did not appear to single out specific vehicles, but rather those that had personal property that could be seen,” Clements said.

However, some CSU-Pueblo staff members who were victims of the recent car break-ins feel differently.

Steven Parker, graduate assistant for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and staff member of Residence Life and Housing, had his car broken into when he was out of town Aug. 9. Over 100 athletic cones, a glasses case and wireless headphones were stolen.

Though he claims the headphones were sitting out, he feels the criminals targeted staff members.

“I drive a 2014 Honda, so I’m not saying have the best car at all. However fairly new, but right next to me were some pretty nice cars and they just touched mine… that was kind of offsetting to me,” Parker explained.

The culprit caused about $750 in damages to Parker’s vehicle.

Monica Gallegos, residence life coordinator, was also a victim of the August car break-ins.

Her car was locked and she claims there were no valuable items sitting in view. Her vehicle sustained $200 in damages. A glasses case was all that was stolen.

“I think faculty and staff were targeted, but that’s an assumption. I guess people think we might have more valuable things in our cars,” Gallegos said.

Clements said many of the cars that were broken into belonged to students, interns and staff.

“I do 110 percent feel like it is targeted. I just don’t understand because we (the staff) don’t have the nicest of cars and the things that were taken,” Parker said.

Parker feels that a positive solution could be utilizing students who are sociology and criminology majors that might go into law enforcement after graduation as hired and trained extra eyes with work study funds or through internships with the campus police and could help in preventing similar incidents in the future. This is an action that the institution he came from in Minnesota took on their campus.

“I would love to see that; we need to have more resources and use our students,” Parker said.

Gallegos disagrees. He believes current resources are sufficient.

“I think we are truly doing as much as we can do, this stuff happens at public parking spaces all the time. The sheriff’s office patrols the lots as much as they can, but they can’t be everywhere looking at every car all of the time,” she said.

“It’s unfortunate, but I’m thankful for the fact that everything that happened only affected material things. We can fix those.”

CSU-Pueblo’s Physical Plant Director Craig Cason has considered increasing the number of security cameras in the parking lots across campus, but the move hadn’t been finalized yet.

“We are currently putting together the project scope so a budget can be developed for the project and then we will have to determine the funding source. Preliminary estimates are that the project cost could be close to $500,000,” he said.

The glasses cases that were taken appear for now to be one small similarity between the car break-ins of Parker and Gallegos. Other trends, if any, will be determined by Clements and his team. As of now, there are no official trends in these cases.

“It is vitally important that you lock your vehicle and put your personal belongings in a place … to keep them from being seen in the passenger compartment. When you leave these items in plain view, it makes your vehicle a target for the criminal element who may be casing the parking lots,” Clements said.

Additionally, he urges students to register their electronic devices. The serial numbers, kept on file by the sheriff’s office, can assist in the  recovery of stolen items, he explained.

Leaving seemingly simple items like clothing and accessories can potentially make a vehicle a target just as wallets and purses left in plain view can, Clements added.

Any suspicious activity should be reported to the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office at CSU-Pueblo at 719-549-2373.

 Edited by: Theresa Wolf

Colorado State University-Pueblo work-study funds were cut by 20 percent this 2016-2017 school year. It is no secret that $600 is a lot to a college student. It could be one month’s rent at their apartment complex somewhere in Pueblo or a new laptop.
CSU-Pueblo employs about 650 students every year at various campus jobs. Usually, each student qualifies for work-study for an allotted amount of $3,000 a year, $1,500 a semester to earn as a work-study award.
The average work-study earnings out of the original $3,000 for the year ranged from $1,700 to $2,200 with a few exceptions, meaning students were not earning the full advantage of their given awards and only received 56 percent to 73 percent total of what they could have. Due to this, director of financial aid, Justin Streater, assistant director of financial aid, Greg Thorsten, and vice president of enrollment management and student affairs, Chrissy Holliday and a financial aid consultant, found it necessary to drop many students work-study award allowance to $2,400 a year, $1,200 a semester.
“We were trying to make more opportunity for students to get jobs on campus and that way we would free up more money for more positions for more students. Typically, in the past we haven’t used all of our federal or state work-study and this way we thought if we could create more positions then more students could work, and we could use it all,” Streater said.
Mathematics major, Ariel Payne, a junior at CSU-Pueblo is one of many who received the 20 percent cut in the work-study award this year. She has held the campus work-study position at the CSU-Pueblo Bookstore as a cashier for over a year now.
“My work-study was cut by $300 a semester. It makes things difficult since my work-study is my only source of income. Since it’s been cut either my monthly paychecks will be smaller, or I’ll run out of hours,” Payne said.
The cuts across the board did vary, some students still received the full $3,000 for the year and some the $2,400, and some who already have jobs on campus that are not work-study positions, like resident assistants (RA’s) received even less.
“We’ve tried to grandfather everybody who had $3,000 into the next year, but just some of them with timing, with technical issues, they didn’t all come across, but anybody who has come in and is like ‘hey I had $3000 last year’ we’ve increased those back to $3,000,” he said.
As far as the RA’s that qualify for work-study, students are allowed only a certain budget and factoring in their lack of paying for room and board. Their budget can end up much smaller for work-study than other students. However, financial aid is still trying to make their work-study situation better as well.
“I wish we would do that a little differently. I’m trying to get housing to give them a scholarship as opposed to us just removing it from their budget so that way it’s on the books to better,” he said.
An increase of work-study funds for next semester is not likely to happen, but might for the 2017-2018 school year. At the end of the year, there will be a reevaluation of student work-study funds for a chance of funds being increased back to the standard award of $3,000 per qualifying student per year.
“We look at how many accepted it, how many worked and then the average work award. So what they actually earned for the full year. That’s kind of what we did before we reduced to the $2,400,” Streater said.
For now, students who have a lower work-study award, and it is their only source of income, the financial aid department does have resources for them including SALT, financial literacy and budgeting program free to students and some available grants and scholarships can be applied if they talk to a financial aid counselor.
Streater hopes to improve financial literacy among students on campus as well as improve the communication between the financial aid department and students, so they know about the resources and opportunities available to them.
“I always try to tell students ‘just come in and ask or shoot me an email’ because I’m always happy to help. I was a student for a very long time, and I’ve been in financial aid for over 10 years and I know how it is so I’m always trying help students as much as possible,” he said.
The financial aid office is located in the administration building. No appointment is necessary to meet with a financial aid counselor.

Colorado State University-Pueblo administrators cut work-study funds by 20 percent for the 2016-17 school year. It is no secret that $600 is a lot to a college student. It could be one month’s rent or a new laptop.

CSU-Pueblo employs approximately 650 students every year at various campus jobs. Usually, each student who qualifies for work-study is allotted $3,000 a year – $1,500 per semester – to earn as a work-study award.

A review of the past year’s work-study trends found that much of allocated work-study funds weren’t being spent. Due to this, Director of Financial Aid Justin Streater, Assistant Director of Financial Aid Greg Thorsten, Vice President of Enrollment Management and Student Affairs Chrissy Holliday and a financial aid consultant found it necessary to drop many students’ work-study award allowance to $2,400 a year, $1,200 a semester.

“It’s a kind of a ‘use it or you lose it’ situation when it comes to campus-based federal funds like work study. So to avoid this and provide more opportunity we decided to go with a small decrease for the year,” Streater explained.

The average work-study earnings out of the original $3,000 for the year ranged from $1,700 to $2,200 with a few exceptions, meaning students were not earning the full advantage of their given awards and only received 56 percent to 73 percent total of what they could have.

“We were trying to make more opportunity for students to get jobs on campus and that way we would free up more money for more positions for more students. Typically, in the past we haven’t used all of our federal or state work-study and this way we thought if we could create more positions then more students could work, and we could use it all,” Streater said.

Mathematics major Ariel Payne, a junior at CSU-Pueblo, is one of many who received the 20 percent cut in the work-study award this year. She has held the campus work-study position at the CSU-Pueblo Bookstore as a cashier for over a year now. “My work-study was cut by $300 a semester. It makes things difficult since my work-study is my only source of income. Since it’s been cut either my monthly paychecks will be smaller, or I’ll run out of hours,” Payne said.

The cuts across the board did vary, some students still received the full $3,000 for the year and some the $2,400, and some who already have jobs on campus that are not work-study positions, like resident assistants (RA’s) received even less.

“We’ve tried to grandfather everybody who had $3,000 into the next year, but just some of them with timing, with technical issues, they didn’t all come across, but anybody who has come in and is like ‘hey I had $3000 last year’ we’ve increased those back to $3,000,” Payne said.

As far as the Resident Assistants who qualify for work-study, each student is allowed only a certain budget and factoring in their lack of paying for room and board, their budget can end up much smaller for work-study than other students.’ However, financial aid is still trying to make their work-study situation better as well.

“I wish we would do that a little differently. I’m trying to get housing to give them a scholarship as opposed to us just removing it from their budget so that way it’s on the books too better,” Streater said.

An increase of work-study funds for next semester is not likely to happen, but might for the school year 2017-2018. A reevaluation of work-study will be done at the end of the year, and there are a chance funds will be increased back to the standard award level of $3,000 per qualifying student per year.

“We look at how many accepted it, how many worked and then the average work award. So what they actually earned for the full year. That’s kind of what we did before we reduced to the $2,400,” Streater added.

For now, students who have a lower work-study award, and it is their only source of income, the financial aid department does have resources for them including the SALT, financial literacy and budgeting program free to students and some available grants and scholarships that can be applied if they talk to a financial aid counselor.

Streater hopes to improve financial literacy among students on campus as well as improve the communication between the financial aid department and students, so they know about the resources and opportunities available to them.

“I always try to tell students to come in and ask or shoot me an email because I’m always happy to help, Streater said.

“I was a student for a very long time, and I’ve been in financial aid for over 10 years and I know how it is so I’m always trying help students as much as possible.”

The financial aid office is located in the administration building. No appointment is necessary to meet with a financial aid counselor.

Photo courtesy of morguefile.com.

Colorado State University-Pueblo budget goals for this year are mainly revolved around benefiting the faculty and staff.

Warren Buffett once said, “Invest in yourself as much as you can, you are your own biggest asset by far.” That is precisely what CSU-Pueblo is planning to do with the overall budget this fiscal year.

Vice President of Finance and Administration Karl Spiecker stated CSU-Pueblo needs to invest in salary increases for faculty and staff.

“These increases include across the board cost of living adjustments, and pay equity increases to implement recommendations and findings from an Equity Study Report that was commissioned by President DiMare,” said Spiecker.

In maintaining a balanced budget for the 2016-2017 fiscal year, the online budget planning tool projects a deficit of $250,000 for specifically the 2017 fiscal year, due to a 1 percent salary increase for staff.

“These salary increases are contingent upon actual revenues exceeding the estimates that were used when the budget was finalized in May 2016,” said Spiecker.

The online budget planning tool additionally shows a projected $1,240,000 increase in new resources and a $1,490,000 increase in new expense for the 2017 fiscal year.

“The incremental budget summarizes anticipated changes in revenues and expenses. The new resources come primarily from tuition and fees. The new expenditures for the year include increases for financial aid, fringe benefits for faculty and staff, overtime costs and other mandatory costs, utilities, insurance…” Spiecker said.

Though budget changes are uncertain and rely on a variety of factors, another financial challenge has burdened the university in recent years.

Colorado State University-Pueblo budget goals for this year are mainly revolved around benefiting the faculty and staff.

Warren Buffett once said, “Invest in yourself as much as you can, you are your own biggest asset by far.” That is precisely what CSU-Pueblo is planning to do with the overall budget this fiscal year.

Vice President of Finance and Administration Karl Spiecker stated CSU-Pueblo needs to invest in salary increases for faculty and staff.

“These increases include across the board cost of living adjustments, and pay equity increases to implement recommendations and findings from an Equity Study Report that was commissioned by President DiMare,” said Spiecker.

In maintaining a balanced budget for the 2016-2017 fiscal year, the online budget planning tool projects a deficit of $250,000 for specifically the 2017 fiscal year, due to a 1 percent salary increase for staff.

“These salary increases are contingent upon actual revenues exceeding the estimates that were used when the budget was finalized in May 2016,” said Spiecker.

The online budget planning tool additionally shows a projected $1,240,000 increase in new resources and a $1,490,000 increase in new expense for the 2017 fiscal year.

“The incremental budget summarizes anticipated changes in revenues and expenses. The new resources come primarily from tuition and fees. The new expenditures for the year include increases for financial aid, fringe benefits for faculty and staff, overtime costs and other mandatory costs, utilities, insurance…” Spiecker said.

Though budget changes are uncertain and rely on a variety of factors, another financial challenge has burdened the university in recent years.

“The most significant challenge is the need for additional state funding for public institutions of higher education,” Spiecker explained. “More funding from the state would enable us to invest in the campus and could alleviate the need for future tuition increases.”

According to recent reports by The National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, Colorado currently ranks 48th in higher education funding spending approximately $3,774 per full-time student enrolled.

That is 40 percent lower than the national average declared in the same reports as $6,290. Despite the lack of state funding, CSU-Pueblo had many successes with the budget recently, including one-time salary adjustments for faculty and staff last December, receiving funding for various projects including the information technology upgrades, enhancements, and the renovation of the Occhiato University Center according to Spiecker.

The University received $900,000 from the state and $300,000 from Pueblo County for cannabis research.

A recent housing policy change made it mandatory for all first-year students who have an address outside of Pueblo County to live on campus for at least two years. More students will be living on campus and already are. Spiecker says the occupancy in the residence halls has increased this year by 50 students. Overall enrollment impacts a huge portion of the university budget, and student fees will ultimately drive up revenue in the long run if the projections about filling the residence halls are correct.

For now, the campus budget focus remains on strengthening the university at the very core staff and faculty, and adjusting as needed for any unpredictabilities that might follow this coming fiscal year.