24 | JUNE 4 • 2020 O akland County Clerk/ Register of Deeds Lisa Brown opened her office by appointment only on May 26. Brown, a member of Adat Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills, has served as Oakland County’ s Clerk/ Register of Deeds since 2013. She continues to encourage the community to take advantage of the online and mail-in services still available but understands that some business needs to be conducted in person. “The reason why we’ re open- ing by appointment only and not just completely reopening is to make sure we are practicing social distancing, ” Brown told the Jewish News. “We’ re just trying to ensure my staff’ s safe- ty and the safety of people we serve by spacing out appoint- ments. ” Brown also wants to make sure the people in the community who might not have internet or who aren’ t comfortable using the online services can use the services of their office and make them more accessible. The Oakland County Clerk/ Register of Deeds office is responsible for vital records/ life events and services, legal/ court records and register of deeds/property and land. Some services, including obtaining a new concealed pistol license and passports, are not available since the governmental agencies that help with those services are not open or taking applications. “We rely or partner with these other departments or govern- ments to provide those services, ” Brown said. “If they aren’ t open, then it doesn’ t make sense for us to do our part because then that person is just in limbo. ” The clerk’ s office is enforcing the proper safety measures by taking everyone’ s temperature when they walk into the build- ing, asking them preliminary questions, marking the floor to provide 6 feet of distance between everyone, enforcing everyone to wear a mask when they walk in and also having plexiglass separate the employ- ees from the customers. Residents of Oakland County who wish to make an in-person appointment must head to the Oakland County Clerk’ s website to find the correct phone num- ber for each division. The web- site will also inform residents on what services are available for in-person appointments. O akland University plans to freeze tuition costs for the upcoming Fall 2020 semester due to the coronavirus pandemic, President Ora Hirsch Pescovitz announced May 22. This plan advocates for a zero percent tuition increase and will be presented to the Board of Trustees at its June 15 meeting, where it will vote on whether it will be implemented. “We are thinking about our students and their families. Pretty much everybody is in the middle of some kind of economic hard- ship or experiencing some sort of budget shortfall, ” Pescovitz told the Jewish News. For the 2019-2020 school year, according to its website, the total cost of attending Oakland University was around $27,370 for freshmen and sophomores who were in-state residents who lived on campus. Oakland University’ s tuition includes a no-fee tuition pricing, meaning that there are no park- ing fees, no technology fees, no athletic fees, no online course fees and no lab fees. This no-fee tuition policy allows for students to know right away what their tuition cost will be and not be surprised by hidden fees. “Tuition is one of those things that is obviously a major financial burden. Every year, in Oakland’ s history, we’ ve always had a tuition increase, ” Pescovitz said. “We’ re thinking about our students’ budgets and our fam- ilies’ budgets. Most of our stu- dents work. Over 85% of our stu- dents are employed, but many of them have lost their jobs, just like many other families may have lost their jobs. We want to do whatever we can to help them. ” Oakland University has also been focusing on trying to get students the best possible finan- cial aid packages. Pescovitz told the JN that, on average, about a third of students’ total tuition is covered by grants, awards and scholarships. “This year, I expect it to be significantly more than that, and part of that is because we were fortunate enough to receive funding from the CARES Act, the stimulus package which provides funding to higher edu- cation institutions to provide financial aid grants to qualifying students, ” Pescovitz said. “We’ re also distributing funds from the Oakland University COVID-19 Relief Fund to students to help with support. ” The university is working on a reopening plan for students, fac- ulty and staff to safely return to campus this fall. The plan entails personal health assessments for students, enforcing social distancing, wearing of masks throughout campus, and all cafe- terias and eating facilities will be a grab-and-go style. “For me, the health and safety of our campus, students, faculty and staff is even more important than education, ” Pescovitz said. “Simply because we can’ t educate our students if our campus is not safe. Safety is of the utmost importance. ” County Clerk Office Reopens Residents can take care of business by appointment only. CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER VIA FACEBOOK Lisa Brown Jews in the D Oakland University Plans to Freeze Tuition for Fall Semester The university also says it will reopen campus this fall. CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER Ora Hirsch Pescovitz OU Oakland University