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4 TECH TIPS TO
ELEVATEFINANCIAL AID OFFICE EFFICIENCY
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During the 2010-11 school year, federal and state governments, institutions and private entities
provided more than
$245 billion
in grants, loans, work study, tax credits and deductions to our nation’s college students.
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More students apply for and receive financial aid than ever before.
Is your department equipped to handle
the volume?
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Distributing that money doesn’t have to be a frustrating endeavor for financial aid offices.
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To meet the demands of higher student numbers, ever-changing compliance requirements and limited budget, you must turn your financial aid office into a
more efficient, streamlined operation.
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Fortunately, today’s technology can help the process flow smoother than in years past.
Consider these ideas:
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1. AUTOMATE FAFSA VERIFICATION
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1. AUTOMATE FAFSA VERIFICATION
FAFSA verification creates headaches for your office and hassles for students, so make the process easier
by automating it.
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1. AUTOMATE FAFSA VERIFICATION
Automation:
• Eliminates the need to handle paper documents • Saves your school money • Significantly speeds up internal processing times• Improves the overall student experience
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Web-based automated software like StudentVerification informs selected students about
which verification documents are required.
Students then upload the required information through the self-service portal.
Finally, the system compares the student-provided information with the reported ISIR data.
1. AUTOMATE FAFSA VERIFICATION
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1. AUTOMATE FAFSA VERIFICATION
Financial aid office staff can log in to view students’ actions, which are all recorded and time stamped.
With an intuitive platform often compared to the easy-to-use interface of TurboTax, StudentVerification
automates the majority of the verification process, reducing processing times by as much as 95 %.
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2. OVER COMMUNICATE WITH STUDENTS
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Students need to hear or read something multiple times before they remember it.
2. OVER COMMUNICATE WITH STUDENTS
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That’s why it’s important to communicate dates, deadlines and other important information multiple
times and through a variety of channels to help students help themselves.
2. OVER COMMUNICATE WITH STUDENTS
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Consider using regularly scheduled social media posts on Facebook or Twitter to keep students informed of
their responsibilities.
Emails are great too, but students’ inboxes get inundated with “official” messages from the school,
sometimes causing important financial aid information to be overlooked.
2. OVER COMMUNICATE WITH STUDENTS
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To make information campaigns easy, the U.S. Department of Education Federal Student Aid office has compiled tools to help financial aid office staff,
or you can create your own in-house.
2. OVER COMMUNICATE WITH STUDENTS
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3. SEND APPOINTMENT REMINDERS
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3. SEND APPOINTMENT REMINDERS
On the surface, it may seem like more work to send email reminders to students who have scheduled
appointments at the financial aid office, but it’s a lot less work than having to deal with missed
appointments followed by requests to reschedule.
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3. SEND APPOINTMENT REMINDERS
You can send reminders manually using your email system, or there are a variety of online apps that
automate the process for you.
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4. STAY UP TO DATE WITH COMPLIANCE
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4. STAY UP TO DATE WITH COMPLIANCE
The federal government produces and distributes web-based training modules designed to help financial
aid officers stay informed about industry updates.
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4. STAY UP TO DATE WITH COMPLIANCE
Available FSA training includes the FSA Coach, a glossary and video demonstrations with
accompanying handouts.
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4. STAY UP TO DATE WITH COMPLIANCE
Participants can learn about topics like institutional eligibility, SAP and default prevent, and may receive
trainings on COD, G5 and NSLDS.
