Which line is it, anyway?

Whether this is your first or 15th quarter at Portland State University, there is a good chance the first floor of Neuberger Hall may cause you some confusion. In order to prevent the array of student services in Neuberger from overwhelming you, the Vanguard is here to inform you about what services each window and/or office provides.

Upon entering Neuberger from the direction of Smith Memorial Student Union, you will see a hallway to your left with signs reading “Admissions Office.”

Most students accepted to PSU have made a trip there in the past, but that doesn’t mean you won’t have to go back again at some time in your academic career.

This office caters mostly to prospective students, as well as having counselors ready to answer general questions about choosing a major or transferring credits. The office has walk-in advising hours Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Tuesday starting at 10 a.m..

When you need more specific questions answered about your major or scheduling, you should talk to someone in your department or go to the Information and Academic Support Center (IASC) on the fourth floor of Smith Union.

If you don’t need the help of admissions, you can continue down the hall to the main lobby.

On the left, there is a large grouping of cubbyholes holding various forms, from measles vaccinations to changing your social security number.

If they happen to be out of the form you need, just pop into the degree requirements office next door to ask for an extra.

If you are graduating this year, you will most likely need to visit this office at least once to ask any questions about graduating and to get the application for graduation.

You can also have questions answered about the Degree Audit Report System (DARS), which can give you a printout of credits taken toward your major and credits transferred.

Veterans can also go to this office to learn about transferring military credits or using their VA education benefits.

Past the cubbyhole boxes are three separate windows: transcripts, financial aid and admissions/registrar. No matter when you go to the transcript window, that particular line always seems to be the shortest of the three. However, make sure you have your request form and check or Visa ready to pay the $5 transcript fee, seeing as how if you pay in cash you have to go to the cashier line.

Next, you can go get records at the admissions window or go to the financial aid window for the many questions or forms you may have. If you have to pay for something to do with financial aid make sure to do so at the cashier’s window.

You can also pay expenses for tuition, student fees and parking permits at the cashier’s window. Make sure your financial aid is figured out before you go to pay toward tuition or student account balance, otherwise you will get sent right back to that long line that leads to the financial aid window.

Adjacent to the cashier are the ID and parking windows.

Whenever you pay your tuition you are supposed to receive a little sticker to put on your ID card that correlates to the current quarter. This sticker is a must-have.

Up until the first day of class, you can obtain the sticker at the cashier’s window, and after that day you can receive it at the ID card window.

You can also purchase ID cards, register to vote, as well as buy bus passes and parking permits at the ID card window. A student discounted monthly bus pass costs $42 for all zones or $35 if you only ride in two zones. Parking permits differ in price depending on what time of day you plan to park.

Armed with this knowledge, you can now boldly navigate Neuberger Hall and not be one of the distressed students at the entrance of the lobby with their mouths open in dismay.

You now have the power to walk through the mess of people and disarray surrounding you, and fix yourself into the right line to pay your music class fee with confidence.