When Sara Beth Holman was an undergraduate student at Northern Michigan University, her work-study job was in the financial aid office. Now the director of financial aid here at Lawrence, Sara Beth has her master’s degree in organizational management from the University of Phoenix.
Five years ago, Sara Beth was hired by Lawrence as an associate director of financial aid. Before coming to Appleton, Sara Beth and her family had lived in Duluth, Minn. Originally from the Green Bay area, Sarah Beth said it was great to come home when her husband got a job there. She is really close to both her mom and her sister. Saturday shopping is a common activity!
The first year the Holmans were in the area, Sara Beth worked in K-12 on a grant program. The financial aid director at Lawrence had saved Sara Beth’s e-mail address for a year and finally, when a position became available, offered it to Sara Beth.
When you think of financial aid, what you do think of? It’s much more than sending out e-mails telling us what documents we’re missing. In the spring, the Financial Aid Office answers a lot of questions from incoming students. They’ve got to figure out everyone’s financial aid packages, answer more questions about what each document and award means, and then do the same thing with current students! If you have an on-campus job, you have an employment card. These cards are generated for each student by the Financial Aid Office. There is no such thing as an average day for Sara Beth.
But working in the Financial Aid Office is not all that Sara Beth does! The most important thing to her is spending time with her family. Now that she just finished her master’s degree, Sara Beth says that she, her husband, and their 8-year-old daughter will be out camping more often. And now that it’s getting nicer out, their daughter will go from hockey to baseball and summer hockey! And there are always those shopping trips with her mom and sister!