Catching up with Emma Almquist, Associate Director for Student Success at Whitworth University
Whitworth’s Emma Almquist shares how she is building a community for Passport students and helping them foster financial literacy through tapping external resources.
Over the summer, CSF staff caught up with Emma Almquist at Whitworth University to discuss the Washington Passport Network on Whitworth’s campus. The following interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Hillary Ryan: Can you tell us a little bit about the Passport to Careers Program and how it works on your campus?
Emma Almquist: I have been working at Whitworth for a couple of years, specifically in our Student Success department. Our Passport support falls under the student success umbrella. In previous years, Whitworth University only had a few students who were eligible for the Passport program. We have a campus size of around 2,500 students, so it’s a pretty small campus. But in the last few years, the number of Passport students has grown significantly. So now we have 15 students who are eligible to participate in the Passport program.
The way it works is a representative from Financial Aid will contact the student and let them know about the scholarship that is available to them based on their status. They will connect them to Student Success and myself, who is the designated support staff. So the main goals are to let folks know what resources are available to them on campus and provide a monthly check-in with them. It could be a 1:1 meeting with myself or another staff member. It might be a monthly gathering with their peers [in the program]. We’re trying to increase their connection to each other. Right now, we’re planning a fall kick-off for Passport students. We’ll have pizza, and free school supplies kits, and provide an overview of resources that are available. We’ll answer questions and ask what ways we can be of support. The start of the September semester is an important one because we really want to catch students, especially those who are new and incoming, as soon as possible so they know where to find us.
Hillary: Wonderful! Sounds like your financial aid office is on top of it. What are some of the successes you’ve had with students? Can you tell us any stories about successes you’ve had?
Emma: One that comes to mind is last year in the spring, I surveyed students and asked them if we were to bring a guest speaker to campus, “What topics would be most beneficial or interesting to you?”. And a number of them said that financial literacy and wellness was a big area of stress and concern. [They’re saying] “I don’t really know how to prepare for finances in college, or life after college!” Some of the students mentioned that they didn’t always have a parent or a guardian, someone who’s been able to coach them on some of those things in their circle of support. So, we wanted to try to connect them with someone in the community who might be able to answer some of their questions. We did a workshop where a partner from a local credit union came and did a brief presentation and then just answered a lot of questions for students. There was a group of about five Passport students who attended, so it was a small and intimate group, which actually ended up being really great because the speaker actually had time to address each of their questions. We talked about things like: What does it look like to invest? How do I find out what interest rate is maybe too high when I’m thinking about purchasing my first vehicle? What do I need to know about saving up money to buy a home? I think this presenter was really helpful too because he really took away some of the stigma around asking those questions about money and created a safe environment for the students. “Any question is valid, we’re here for support, and it’s okay to not know some of these things.” I think the support the students found through it was great. We received some good feedback about it, so much so that the students said “We want him to come back! One hour was not enough. We have so many more questions. ”I hope to bring that speaker back to continue the conversation and provide additional knowledge and support for students this fall.
Hillary: Wow! Sounds like you hit the nail on the head there. That’s what they wanted. Certainly, something we’ve heard from other students, but I’m glad you were able to make it happen for Passport students who really don’t have that adult who can guide them through and answer any questions. So, if you look at your campus, who would you say are the biggest champions for Passport students on your campus?
Emma: I would definitely say our Student Success team. I work closely with the Director of Student Success [Landon Crecelius] who is very supportive and spreads the word about the programming we’re doing which continues to ensure there’s alignment in supporting Passport students.
Additionally, our partnership with financial aid is very important. We have one financial aid counselor who is specifically tasked with staying up-to-date with the different regulations and FAFSA. I really appreciate him championing the Passport program so I don’t have to use my limited time to keep up with that side of it. I can say [to students] “Oh, that’s a really great question, I don’t know the answer, let me connect you to Dave from financial aid.” Having that collaboration allows me to focus more on the relationship and also on meeting specific needs. I’m thankful for that and we’ve worked to establish some good communications between our departments.
Hillary: If you could make changes to the Passport program, what would they be? If you could wave that magic wand, what would you do? Sounds like you need more time and hours in the day. What else would you recommend for changes within your students and the program itself?
Emma: I think having more time would be great. I’d love to make the case for using some of the funding to have a person full-time just doing Passport support because I think one of the areas we could really grow in is the relationships with local high schools and other organizations. We’ve tried to develop a really good system once a student has chosen Whitworth, but I would really love to see us grow in some of the outreach we do with other campus partners in identifying youth sooner and letting them know about the opportunity and benefits that may be available. Currently, due to capacity and other job responsibilities, that part has been a challenge for us.
Donna Quach: We were doing another interview with a four-year institution, that had about 12 Passport students. They were sharing that it doesn’t matter, in their experience, if the program serves 15 or 30 students, the amount of time it takes to develop a robust program is the same. It still requires you to do outreach and all of the things to build a program that supports students, regardless of the size. Do you feel like that statement from the partner resonates with you? Does the current funding structure support long-term planning? How does the funding at smaller schools like Whitworth support long-term planning?
Emma: That’s a good question. I do resonate with it a lot in the sense that the whole idea around outreach and designing a program and having intentionally around it for 15 students vs. 30 or 50, can be similar in the amount of work. I do think that the current funding for the number of students we have is adequate. We will often say “Oh, how do we make sure we’re actually using this funding?”. We need to make sure we’re getting this money to students in an equitable way. It’s less of the funding piece and more of the personnel behind it saying “Planning ahead is difficult if we don’t know how much funding Washington state will be able to provide vs. what Whitworth as an institution will have to provide as compensation for staff.” Those are some of the challenges I see from my vantage point.
Hillary: Is there anything else you’d like to share?
Emma: I would encourage student support professionals to attend the annual Passport Network conference. I’ll be trying to integrate some of the things I learned from that space to support students. I think it’s really helpful to share some of the successes and challenges with other professionals. It’s been really fun for me to broaden my network and hear about programs that have a lot more students and learn about the really cool stuff they’re able to do. It’s been really helpful.
