Over the course of the spring and summer semesters, I have heard several students voice some very strong, negative opinions regarding the new Welcome Center. As a former employee of the Welcome Center, I can understand their frustration.
On the surface, the Welcome Center appears to be the solution to all the problems faced in the former Financial Aid and Registration offices that were located in the basement of the LRC building. In theory, the Welcome Center, with its rows of HP computers, should be able to service many students at one time. This should be an easy way for students to access their WebAdvisor, apply for Financial Aid, register for classes, or perform any task necessary for college that can be completed online.
Although a student can do these tasks within the comfort of their home, some seek human interaction for problem solving; especially when an online transaction can’t mimic a face-to-face one. Is there any wonder as to why students are upset when they aren’t given the customer service they seek? Instead of being immediately helped at the Welcome Center, a student is ushered into a computer lab and told to raise their hand for what feels like forever.
The Welcome Center’s flaw is that it’s understaffed – the high demand for customer service swamps employees. After spending some time working there, I was able to come up with a list of tips that would make the process of visiting the center efficient for HFCC students.

1) Be prepared by bringing all necessary documents. Preparation almost guarantees that whatever needs to get done will only take one visit.

2) Try to arrive there as early as possible. It may be a pain to get up early, but being the only student waiting for help from the staff makes up for it.

3) Be realistic about time. On top of the actual work that needs to be done in the center, the wait time is an added and unexpected variable.
Although the Welcome Center looks great and has updated technology, it is not staffed for the heavy demand of customer service. Rather than getting upset, doing whatever’s possible to make visits run more smoothly will make the Welcome Center more tolerable.