Welcome to The Snellen Letter – our new monthly student newsletter! We hope to keep you connected to student and college news and centralize communication of the most important announcements for the month. Newsletters will be archived at https://u.osu.edu/snellenletter/, so you can easily refer to back issues. We welcome your involvement in The Snellen Letter, so if you have stories you would like to share, please send them to Jen Bennett at bennett.1075@osu.edu.

Congratulations Paula Kelbley for submitting the selected name for our newsletter, The Snellen Letter! Paula’s submission was chosen from 47 entries, all of which demonstrated a great sense of fun and creativity – so much so, we could not select just one. We also picked a runner-up! Brooke Weisenburger suggested “Focal Points,” which will serve as the name of the important dates section of the newsletter. Thanks to all who submitted entries!

On the college website, there is now a link in the footer called “For Current Students.” On this page you will find a variety of important student documents, such as the Student Handbook, Clinical Policy and Procedures and the link to the My Ohio State Optometry page.

Also on this page is a link to the new Absence Form. This form is to be used to document any absences from exams or other didactic obligations with mandatory attendance. This form is not a notification of your absence, but rather to document your excuse for the absence. Think of it as a “doctor’s note.” When you click on this link, you will see the familiar OSU login page and then will be directed to the form. All completed forms will go to Dr. Earley, Jen Bennett and Becca Roby. You will also be able to specify which additional instructors should receive the form.

Please let us know if you have any questions about the absence form, or if you have any suggestions for additional items to put on the For Current Students page.

When you think of wellness what do you think of? Anecdotally, the majority of us probably think of exercise and nutrition, but did you know there are nine dimensions of wellness? The nine dimensions include, emotional, career, social, spiritual, physical, financial, intellectual, creative, and environmental wellness. We want to know which areas of wellness are most important to you and how we can help! Please take two minutes to complete this brief poll to help us help you! https://osu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9RjMMcVUiZMIsQd

http://fafsa.gov

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for the 2018-2019 school year will be available to file starting October 1. Students and families will use income tax information from 2016 to complete the application. Ohio State’s priority date for filing the FAFSA (https://fafsa.gov/) and the Special Scholarships Application (https://sfa.osu.edu/secure/schapp/) is February 1, 2018.

Many factors can impact whether you receive the same financial aid resources from year to year, including a change in income, number of family members in your household, number of students in college, etc. Institutional funding levels also are subject to change, as are criteria used to award funding each year. Filing by the priority date each year is the best way to position yourself for the most financial aid resources you might be eligible to receive.

When filing the FAFSA, navigate to the “dependency status” section and be sure to answer YES to this question:

You are considered an “independent” student. This means you are not required to answer questions about your parents. However, you may want to answer questions about your parents if:

• You are a law school or health profession student (such as a medical or nursing student), or
• Your school requires parental information from all students.

Do you want to answer questions about your parents?
Yes     No

If you have additional questions regarding the 2018-2019 FAFSA, please contact Justin Griest (griest.6@osu.edu). More FAFSA details can be found at https://sfa.osu.edu/current-student/apply-for-aid/step-by-step