Lola Finch Receives WSU Alumni Award

PULLMAN, Wash. — One of the best friends students ever had at Washington State University has received a WSU Alumni Achievement Award. Lola Story Finch was recognized Sept. 2 for her longtime efforts as WSU Student Financial Aid and Scholarship administrator and consultant. The recognition came at a party hosted by Pullman friends the day before she and her husband, Howard, marked their 50th wedding anniversary.

Finch is credited with developing WSU’s financial aid program into one of the nation’s finest. Her peers elected her president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, one of the national and regional councils and commissions she served on.

The Pullman native and WSU graduate (’65 Home Ec., ’73 M.A. Educ.) began her career at WSU in 1967, after serving as secretary for the Big Sky Athletic Conference. In the early years, she was a financial aid counselor and then assistant dean of students. As associate dean of students (1972-77), director of student financial aid (1977-84) and director of the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid (1984-88), she shouldered major responsibility for overseeing all student financial programs, including scholarships.

In 1988 she was named director of grants and special projects, a new position within Division of Student Affairs, where she sought external funding support for programs. Later she was interim director for the Office of Student Financial Aid at WSU.

Her influence extended beyond WSU, including a three-year term (1976-79) with the U.S. Office of Education’s Advisory Council of Financial Aid to Students and as president of the Washington State Financial Aids Association. At her 1995 retirement, WSU President Samuel H. Smith saluted Finch for her leadership skills and professional guidance in financial aid and scholarship programs that “impacted the lives of thousands of students positively.”

As an undergraduate, Finch was president of the Associated Women Students and named Outstanding Senior Woman. Her memberships included Mortar Board, Phi Kappa Phi and Omicron Nu honoraries, and the Pi Beta Phi sorority. In the Pullman community, she has served on the Commission on the Status of Women, advised the WSU chapter of Pi Beta Phi and co-chaired the Pullman Hospital fund-raising campaign.