State Update
Steven Brooks
State Education Assistance Authority
Asheville, North Carolina
November 2014
CFNC and General Assembly
• End of FFELP loans pinches SEAA’s budget for outreach
• Recurring appropriation for CFNC - $1,000,000
– Funding goes to offset operations and marketing of CFNC
• Required report on sustainability due December 1
– Re-examination of all aspects of CFNC services
• Find and consolidate duplicative efforts
• Eliminate items that are no longer needed
• Reduction of expenses – budget cut by 20.63%
– Marketing down - use of social media hope will work
• Use of net revenue from out of state School Services
• Seeking corporate sponsorship for new services
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You already know Plan, Apply, Pay
5.4 million
accounts
3.8 million
admissions
applications
1.5 million
high school
transcripts
But there are also many services you may find surprising (or just
need reminding of)
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CFNC Regional Representatives
Statewide outreach in local communities
Seven CFNC regional representatives cover all 100 counties
• Offer free programs, workshops and training for students,
families, adult learners, educators, employers, employees, and
others through outreach in:
• Schools (K-12 and colleges/universities); civic organizations; churches;
libraries, community events; businesses
• Presentations tailored to intended audience’s age and interests, focus on
educational opportunities and resources
• Comprehensive information on topics such as:
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Career exploration
Planning for college
Financial literacy
Choosing and applying to college
Saving for college
Paying for college
Special projects and events
CFNC representatives also participate in individual projects and
special events serving students and supported by CFNC such as:
• Increasing awareness of CFNC tools & services for military and
returning veterans
• Creation of a Special Point of Contact (SPOC) list of NC
college/university contacts for homeless and foster students to
get support during their college experience
• Educational Opportunities Programs – Over 150 “college fairs”
sponsored by Carolinas Association of Collegiate Registrars and
Admissions Officers in all North Carolina LEAs
• College Application Week
• FAFSA Day (Free Application for Federal Student Aid)
CFNC Call Center (toll-free line, 866-866-CFNC)
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Supporting college admissions
College Application Week (CAW)
Offered annually statewide one week in November and sponsored by CFNC
and CACRAO.
2013 CAW: 73,269 applications; 27,564 students; 571 NC high schools
Annual Filing of College Applications on CFNC.org
Most recent full year: 2013: 478,336
NC colleges and universities save significant sums using this service
Electronic Submission of High School Transcripts to Colleges
Online application system also makes electronic high school transcript
system available for North Carolina’s public high school students
Calendar year 2013: 319,295
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Other service areas promoting access
Financial Literacy
Online, interactive, free modules/materials available for high school students
Usage 2012-2013: 23,545 students
Educator guides for each module
Online videos and games
Publications
Test Prep Course
Free online help to assist students in preparing for standardized college tests,
SAT, ACT and GRE, and to improve vocabulary for better performance on
each.
Assist over 5,000 students each year.
Helps level the playing field for students whose families cannot afford to pay
for such services.
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Recent additions/observations
• Let Me Tell You, an online platform currently providing over 3,000 free
videos for North Carolina high school students and their families.
• DPI transition to PowerSchool –Work to mitigate impact on electronic
transcripts for students from high schools across the state.
• Discussions with Department of Commerce about ways to collaborate
and save them expense on the development of a jobs web site.
• Mock College App Week—To help high school juniors prepare for the
application process
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Winds of Change are Blowing
Coming August 2015: built on backbone of CFNC
• CrossRoads – enhanced application for admission
• Grant Re-write – coming August 2015
• Centralized Residency determination for purposes of tuition and
state grant consideration
While these are three separate processes, they are planned to reinforce each other
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CrossRoads
Work underway - enhanced admissions application for colleges
• Listening tour last spring and additional feedback since
– 71 campuses; 131 people participated
– On-Going communications
– CFNC end users, including counselors and admissions professionals
• Plan is to enhance usefulness in recruitment and ability to integrate
with other campus systems
– “Person-specific data packages” to include admissions, transcripts, and
residency determination
• Enhancements in these specific areas
– Application Hub (Admission Apps and e-Transcripts)
– Campus Search
– CFNC Profile – Postsecondary Plans
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Grant System Re-write
• Goals are:
–
–
–
–
Flexibility –current requirements and future-ready
Better reporting and communications with schools
Better technical performance
Better prediction of expenditures and control over disbursement
processes
Launched in phases:
– First quarter 2015 – enhanced award download, new view
customization ability
– Second quarter 2015 – enhanced certification certification process
(students by term rather than by grant type) and improved display
for grant awards
– Early third quarter 2015 enhanced disbursements, adjustments,
and reconciliation
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Coordinated and Centralized
Residency Determination
• Legislative mandate to UNC, Community Colleges, and SEAA
• Recommendations of a working group UNC, CC, NCICU, SEAA
• Process for undergraduates unfolds over the next 20 months
• Positive implications for financial aid processing
• After all, in-state tuition subsidy is the
BIGGEST FINANCIAL AID PROGRAM OF ALL!
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Common residency manual for all, but ...
• Campuses do not currently obtain information for residency
determinations from a common set of questions; questions vary by
admissions application
• Some campuses use an electronic process, some campuses review
residency determinations manually
• Students applying to multiple campuses complete multiple forms,
which are not identical for residency
• Student responses to differently worded questions can vary
•
Students sometimes receive different decisions from different
campuses
• Result: confusion  legislative mandate for change
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Working Group’s Recommendations
Phase One – Current (Spring 2014 – March 2015)
 Continue building consensus across sectors, including
advice from campus experts, on a set of common
questions all students must answer to determine residency
 Conduct statewide residency verification training
 Build consensus across sectors on the structure/calculation
algorithm to utilize for a residency determination
– Build final specification for the revised/enhanced CFNC
residency verification admissions application process
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Residency Phase 1, continued
July 2014 – March 2015
– Programming enhanced CFNC admissions process for
residency verification;
– Embed standardized questions and common algorithm
• Conversational interview technique
• Simpler for students; more accurate and consistent for State
– Collaborate with campus and system officials to ensure that
the process readily integrates into campus admissions and
records management systems
– Testing and Quality Control
– Final training of campus officials
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Centralized Residency – Project Update
• Initial residency determinations will be made centrally via CFI
(beginning late summer 2015 for Spring 2016 & subsequent terms)
• Review of certain documents to be done by SEAA staff to verify
information as necessary – many data matches to automate this
• “Residency Certification Number” provided to students for use with
non-CFNC college applications – in the same “Person-specific” data
transmission as admissions applications and transcripts
Student aid implications
– Grants pre-screened for residency at system level
– Reduced workload for financial aid administrators
• Phase two will be to automate the “appeals” or “reclassification”
process, also through CFI/SEAA
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Details on Residency System
• Amortized costs of development plus estimates of annual maintenance
and staffing costs of centralized initial classification to be paid by
systems based on volume per semester
• Reclassification will likely be a student fee, not a college fee, again
based upon amortized development of that portion plus annual
maintenance and staffing costs
• We plan for reclassification will be ready by summer of 2016 for use in
fall 2016
• Thus we will have fully centralized all undergraduate residency
determinations by Fall 2016!
• Graduate determinations continue on campus until after full
centralization of undergraduate process
• Lots of training and information sharing over next several months.
Please be paying attention!
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Other legislative matters
Required Study re: State Grants
Study and report on “ways to structure SEAA financial aid
payment schedules to encourage students to complete an
average of 30 credit hours per academic year”
Only affects grant recipients but “on time” is an issue for ALL students
SEAA will:
Consult with UNC, CC System, NCICU
Very complex issue that sounds simple
Previously* reported difficulties but General Assembly remains
interested
Elizabeth McDuffie will take lead role
*4-30-2014
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Legislative Issues: Limits on grant receipt
• Program Maximum Time of Receipt
– UNC NBG, NC NBS, ELS
– Community College Grant
10 semesters
6 semesters
Reminder
• Coordination among programs required
– 6 full time semesters used at Community College, 4 semesters eligibility left
– Transfer from UNC to private with 5 semesters used, 5 semesters left
• Exceptions
– Part time students get equivalent number of semesters (20 of half time)
– Officially designated 5-year programs  12 semesters
– Institutional waivers - (see next slide)
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Institutional Waivers
• “Upon application by a student, the appropriate postsecondary
institution may grant a waiver to the student who may then receive a
scholarship for the equivalent of one additional full-time academic
semester if the student demonstrates that any of the following have
substantially disrupted or interrupted the student's pursuit of a degree,
diploma, or certificate: (i) a military service obligation, (ii) serious
medical debilitation, (iii) a short-term or long-term disability, or (iv)
other extraordinary hardship. “
• What is an “other extraordinary hardship?” We want to issue guidance
but we want to hear from the community as we develop that guidance.
• Can/should SEAA develop a list of hardships that will qualify?
(suggest to BOG and SBCC)
• Can/should SEAA specify the documentation required?
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Legislative Matters
• Teaching Fellows Program (TFP) will be transferred to SEAA
effective February 1
– TFP will make spring disbursements to seniors before transfer
– A few students may receive disbursements from SEAA fall 2015
– Working with TFP staff to obtain electronic records – law requires a
format acceptable to SEAA
– TFP is very cooperative
– However, transfer will require manual intervention
• SEAA currently collects cash while TFP tracks service
• SEAA must compare TFP records to ours on this subset
• Most borrowers will be NEW records
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School Services Updates
• Goal of school services:
– Help colleges comply with regulations
– Help colleges help their students
– Priced at cost in North Carolina
– Priced higher out of state  net proceeds: CFNC outreach
ISIR Verification and C-Code Resolution
EX$EL: Financial Education and Repayment Success
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Shared Services: Efficient. Compliant. Effective.
Federal verification can create negative impact on
• Student enrollment
– Aid delayed is aid denied – defer/reduce enrollment, withdraw
– Verification delays also slow down entire pipeline
• Customer service
– Offices with telephone backlogs, closed for processing, long lines
– Financial aid office seen as police rather than offering access
• Campus cash flow and budgets
– Greater costs to fill seats
– Lower tuition revenue
– Burdens of emergency loans, etc.
• Compliance and liabilities
– Verification is among the top items causing required repayment to USED
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ISIR Verification Service Results
Experience from schools in our verification program
• Student enrollment
– Verification done in less than one-third of national average time
– Students with real issues can get through pipeline and get enrolled
• Customer service
– Notable reduction in office visits and phone traffic
– Aid administrators concentrate on those actually needing more help
• Campus cash flow and budgets
– Report 50% more aid ready to disburse at beginning of term versus in house
– At NASFAA a large Northern Virginia community college reported having
packaged 2,500 more students by early July than before using this service
• Compliance and liabilities
– Fully compliant system and insurance to cover liabilities if errors occur
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2015-2016 ISIR Verification Processing
Time to sign up for next year
• An early start is most beneficial
• We expect to serve 25 – 30 colleges
• Expect 75,000 verifications or more
• We do have the ability to scale up as needed
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EX$EL update: Challenges for colleges in a
Post FFELP World
• More students borrowing more; confusing repayment options
• Default rates rising
• Schools getting blame although not in control
• Negative press about price and borrowing
• Staff lacks time/resources to manage defaults effectively
• But must help students succeed
• Must maintain reputation for administrative capability
• Need a “default management plan” that really works
• Boost repayment success of all borrowers, not just to prevent some
from defaulting
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Currently Planning an EX$EL Enhancement
For Borrowers in older cohorts
• You asked that we offer this service for older cohorts in
addition to the most recent cohort
• We will do this very soon, with the focus on phone calls to
bring them back to “on-time” status
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Program Updates – Outreach and Training
FAFSA Day:
• FAFSA submissions 3,280
• Volunteers
1,622
• Sites in all 100 counties
New Financial Aid Administrator Training:
• December 3-5, 2013
• March 25-27, 2014
• October 28-30, 2014
40 participants
33 participants
43 participants
Total FAA Training participants > 850
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Change over time … since my arrival in 1997
• SEAA Board Chairman Dick Roberts asked that I be
entrepreneurial and assertive to do good things for NC
• Soon the Board gave me three major tasks
1. Be sure our technology was second to none
2. Provide borrowers with lowest possible costs for loans
3. Invest in outreach to those who would otherwise not be able to
attend college
• Staff at SEAA and at CFI, with your support, accomplished all
three tasks and more
• Period of rapid growth and change, some planned, some not;
mostly good (with notable exception of end of FFELP)
• Let’s take a look at how we have changed …
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Then and Now – SEAA Administered Grants
(State and Private)
Item
6/30/1997
6/30/2014
Change
High Point
Annual Number
of Recipients
38,659
142,286
+ 268%
209,711
2009-2010
Annual Dollars
$48,456,777
$272,900,787
+ 463%
$350,108,575
2009-2010
Need Based
Dollars
$19,645,799
$264,133,633
+ 1,246%
NA
Non Need Based
Dollars
$28,812,978
$8,767,154
- 70%
NA
Percent Need
Based
41%
97%
Percent NonNeed Based
59%
3%
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Then and Now - Forgivable Loans for Service
Item
6/30/1997
6/30/2014
Change
Annual Number
of Recipients
2,432
2,783
+ 14%
Annual Dollars
$9,793,744
$20,637,162
+ 111%
Portfolio
$37,042,038
$107,015,803
+ 189%
More than a dozen programs now consolidated
as FELS – Forgivable Loans for Education Service.
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New Initiatives/Programs since 1997
Item
Alternative Loans
(EXTRA; CCL)
529 College Savings
Accounts
Dollars
College Foundation
of North Carolina
(CFNC)
Total Programs
Administered
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6/30/2014 Totals
Annual (2013-2014)
$192,147,438
0
128,208
$1,549,087,849
9,455 (+ 8%)
$323,080,528 (+26.4%)
Accounts
5,273,918
Applications
3,771,983
Transcripts
1,460,675
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Accounts
457,492
Applications
462,574
Transcripts
247,089
Daily Visitors
11,015
Yearly Visitors 4,020,779
53 (+96%)
Thank you
• 37 years ago I joined NCASFAA
• This is the place where I learned financial aid
• It is the place where I had colleagues who actually
understood what I was doing (unlike on campus)
• I wish you every success in the years ahead
• I am so pleased that Elizabeth McDuffie will be taking
my place in December!
• I ask that you give her the same support you have
unfailingly given to me over all these years, and I know
that you will.
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