Students Weigh in on Lehman’s Financial Aid System
By Allen Mena
Despite Lehman’s relatively low-cost tuition of under $10,000, most Lehman students still rely on financial aid and have mixed feelings about their experiences with the office of distribution. A majority of students receive financial aid; around 85 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Education. However, several students reported difficulties with the process.
“It hasn’t always been a pleasant experience,” said Samantha DiDonato, 19, an undeclared Lehman sophomore. “Part of the staff is friendly and cooperative during complicated situations. Others have been rude when I ask questions and made some processes more difficult for me than they need to be.”
“Sometimes the staff would become annoyed with me if I didn’t have the proper information or documentation at the time of my visits,” said Catherine Rodriguez, 20, a junior biology major.
“There have been times where the staff have breaks and do not let anyone on the waiting line know, which I found rude to everyone trying to get help with their forms,” said Steven Morano, 19, an undeclared sophomore.
Other students reported overall positive experiences with the office.
“I believe the experience with financial aid is helpful. In the end I get the money I need for my classes,” said 19-year-old Richard Castillo, a nursing sophomore at Lehman. “Because of my specific case, it hasn’t been easy, but by asking questions, taking notes down, and following directions, I’ve been able to get through the process.”
Lehman’s financial aid system works similarly to that of other colleges. It gives students the funds for college in three main ways: loans that must be repaid with interest, grants that do not have to be repaid in most cases, and work-study, which provides students with a part-time job to earn the money to pay for their tuition, room, and/or board. Each track comes with its own prerequisites which can seem less daunting when financial aid staff explain them to students.
“My experience with Lehman financial aid office was positive and the staff really took the time to answer my questions and fill out complicated forms,” said Precious Oporum, a sophomore biology major.
Lehman's Underground Tunnels Intrigue Students
By Lysa Vanible
The tunnels beneath Lehman College have withstood close to nine decades to transform the way people navigate the campus terrain. Built in 1931 during construction of what was then the Hunter College Bronx campus, the tunnels extend for a length of 1230 linear feet, or 0.23 miles. They connect the Music building to the Old Gym, as well as Carman, Davis, Gillet, Shuster, and the Science Hall.
Suhkrat Marmolejos, a 22-year-old sophomore Computer Science major, said “I walk the tunnels to explore the campus before the beginning of the semester to understand my options and surroundings.”
A preview of the connection between Davis Hall and the Old Gym, underground.
Student art covers the landscape displayed on the walls connecting the Fine Arts and Shuster Hall buildings, which reaches further facilities as well.
The intersection leading North between Shuster and Science Hall is where Sociology major, Angie Rosado, 25 said, “ I use the tunnels during inclement weather to help me get to class on time. It’s easier to navigate with less people. My friends hardly use them because they don’t know about them. It took me two semesters before I knew about them.”
The image shows what is known as the only crossroad within the tunnels, which provides accessibility for handicapped and individuals with special needs, and that leads outside campus between Davis, Science and Shuster Hall.
Students and faculty are presented with an artistic retreat in nature. At the interval along the underground where Shuster is adjacent to Fine Arts are double doors that lead to an outside platform of industrial art.
Art along the walls outside of Fine Arts are thesis projects done by students.
Lehman Has the Only Virtual Reality Academy in CUNY and the Bronx
By Deanna Garcia
Lehman College remains the only CUNY to house the Virtual Reality Academy and has been offering training programs since 2017 at its offsite Bronx location called CUNY on the Concourse (COTC).
“The idea is that our students, who have tremendous amounts of ideas, have an opportunity through this lab to be creative and to implement those ideas,” said Ronald Bergmann, Vice President and CIO of the Division of Information Technology at Lehman. Bergmann came up with the idea of an Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) lab at Lehman’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies (SCPS).
“It’s a resource for the community to be able to ensure that Bronx residents and CUNY students have an opportunity to learn to use some leading edge technologies,” Bergmann explained. “We want our students and residents to take advantage of opportunities to learn how to leverage these technologies in their work and in their career.”
The Virtual Reality Academy allows students to get an understanding of how virtual real- ity works (Photo Credit: Lehman College).
The center has fostered a wide range of student projects. Former VR students, Michael Brenner and Aaron Holness, used their legal education backgrounds to combine law with virtual reality. Their project grants lawyers with abilities to recreate crime scenes for case preparation purposes, including the elaboration of case theories before presented to a judge.
The VR Academy also helps students expand their businesses. Vincent Navarro, a VR graduate and trainer at VR Lab, is applying AR/VR for his software development business, with the goal of expanding to other countries, creating scientific and educational programs to train students with restrictions. Navarro began this venture in collaboration with Lehman’s chemistry department to include VR in their studies.
The virtual reality training academy at CUNY on the Concourse (Photo Credit: Deanna Garcia)
In 2016, to establish the program, Lehman partnered with the California-based EON Reality, which specializes in 3D interactive technologies and simulations to train, educate, manufacture and entertain those who are interested in the AR/VR world. In 2019, the academy switched its partnership from EON Reality to Unity, “basically the number one software for VR content creating,” explained Samira Bahrami, COTC director. “The VR program is educating the content creators to shape the future of education, training and entertaining.”
COTC, where the academy is housed, is located at 2501 Grand Concourse, and is part of Lehman’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies (SCPS). “COTC provides space and educational support to SCPS departments, Lehman’s academic departments, as well as the industry partners,” Bahrami said. The space consists of 12 classrooms, which includes a VR lab, computer labs, healthcare labs, a computerized testing center and the Bronx Tech Incubator.
CUNY on the Concourse serves 1,500 people each semester and 4,500 people during a year (Photo Credit: Deanna Garcia).
So far, two cohorts have completed the 10-month intensive program which included four months of training and six months of a project-based learning. After finishing the program, students earned AR/VR Developer level 2 certificates.
However, no credits are given to transfer into other Lehman programs. “We’re working on getting credits from Lehman’s academic departments for the whole AR/VR Academy, which would be helpful for computer science majors,” Bahrami said.
After completion, employment opportunities vary between the fields of architecture, product visualization, game creation, multimedia design and broadcast media. Students can also utilize what they learned to engage in new products.
“We are delighted with the way that the AR/VR Training Academy is adapting to the changing needs of the industry and evolving business development,” said Jane MacKillop, dean of SCPS. “Lehman College is truly an engine of economic development in the new Bronx!”
Lehman offers the program at a competitive price, considering that VR classes in NYC are not cheap. The School of New York Times is offering an online certificate in the subject for $645. At COTC, students can take a class and receive a certificate for a four-month training program for $450.
“While training exists for many parts of AR and VR in the city, there are few programs that cover the multidisciplinary nature of the industry,” said Bahrami. “The VR Academy is very affordable compared to other training in the city.”
Some students are unaware that Lehman offers such programs, though all those who were informed reacted with enthusiasm.
“This can definitely be a pathway to new experiences,” said Reynaldo Estrella, a 19-year-old biology sophomore at Lehman, when he heard about the VR lab.”
“I believe that a VR lab not only provides experiences, but also represents a potential change within society,” said Lehman student, Susan Lin, an 18-year-old nursing sophomore. “VR can explore and discover new things so that people can experiment with different solutions.”
Lehman accounting junior, Alex Adams, 21, said, “I haven’t personally used VR for my studies, but I see the kind of impact it could have for other students’ professions. I think it’s great that students can get professionally trained and experience what their career holds for them.”
The virtual reality training academy at CUNY on the Concourse (Photo Credit: Deanna Garcia)
The Virtual Reality Academy will be back for their 10-month training in spring 2020 and will use Unity’s software. During the semester, students will focus on 2D and 3D asset creation modeling, scripting and program techniques, project management, rigging and animation. Workshops and open houses are currently available for students who are interested in technology.