Chabot College Program Review
Summary
Student Services Program Review
Unit/Area:
Division/Area to Which You Report:
Author(s) of this Unit Plan:
Today’s Date:
School Year Program Review Completed:
Financial Aid Office
Student Services
Linzmeyer, Kathryn
4/18/11
2010
Audience:
IPBC; Program Review Committee; Deans/Unit Administrators; Budget Committee
Purpose:
To provide evidence of progress on from previous year and to provide input into planning for subsequent years.
Instructions: If you have completed your unit plan last year, please update your timeline and answer the questions below. If you are updating/changing
your timeline, list the appropriate year in which revisions were made.
1. Summary of prior program review
The Chabot Financial Aid Office (FAO) supports the college mission and strategic plan of ensuring student equity and success in achieving educational goals,
specifically in Goals A, B and D. Our original program review recognized that financial aid is vital to student access and retention, and a critical component
to ensure and facilitate student learning and success. That recognition has only been strengthened over the past year. Our mission continues to be focused
on service to students and stewardship of funds. We want to maintain our Mission Statement: Chabot students and the community receive
exceptional service from the FAO, and are afforded dedicated, accurate and timely financial aid information and services based on fiscally
sound practices and compliance with federal, state and institutional regulations and policies.
Financial Aid Education & Application
Studies have shown that reducing the financial concerns of students and their families provide them with a greater chance to be successful while in school.
Our focus on early and accurate application, followed by education of both financial and academic eligibility, assists students to be more successful in
completing their educational goals.
Over the past several years, a primary focus of the FAO has been to incorporate financial aid education and information into all aspects of student services.
In 2004, we hired a Financial Aid Outreach Liaison with the express purpose of ensuring that financial aid was included in all campus and community
outreach. The position evolved several times, successfully educating the campus and community on matters of financial aid. Our incumbent, hired in 2007,
has systematically addressed increasing needs both on campus and in the community about availability of financial aid resources, and direct assistance with
the application process.
Staff work with a variety of other departments in collaborative inreach and outreach to incorporate financial aid literacy and assistance, including the Early
Decision, Puente, Daraja, EOPS, DSPS, CalWorks, Aspire, Dental Hygiene and RN programs, to name only a few. Regular FAFSA workshops have made
assisting students with their applications much more efficient and a better use of staff time. We implemented Fall, Winter and Spring awareness and
application campaigns to provide regular and consistent guidance throughout the year on campus and in the area high schools. We have been recognized
as a model program in the East Bay, and the Outreach position has allowed Student Services Specialists in the office to focus their time on student
advisement and determination of eligibility.
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The Outreach Liaison took on the revision of the Financial Aid web page from the prior college web master, and we have been able to utilize it as our first
point of contact for students, with updated and accurate information as it happens – and changes occur frequently with financial aid! Answers to many
general financial aid questions along with variety of policies can be found on our website, alerts and reminders are updated frequently, and student-specific
eligibility and status can be found on the Zone/CLASS Web Financial Aid site.
The FAO has been an early and active proponent of efforts to qualify the college as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), providing multilingual materials and
presentations and advisement, with fully one third of our current staff fluent in English and Spanish.
Awarding and Disbursement of Aid
Chabot’s dedicated and multilingual (English/Spanish/Chinese) Financial Aid Office staff provides advisement on financial and academic eligibility, determines
potential and actual eligibility, and awards and disburses financial aid funds to eligible students according to multiple layers of federal, state and institutional
mandates, regulations, policies and best practices. Application of professional judgment is used when extenuating or unusual circumstances warrant a
change to the federal methodology or to make exceptions for a student’s failure to maintain satisfactory academic progress. We are compliant with complex
administrative requirements for fund management, including recalculation, student repayments and reconciliation, which are typical and frequent audit
findings elsewhere.
Federal programs include the Federal Pell Grant, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG), Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG), Federal
Work Study (FWS), and Federal Student Loan programs. State programs include the California Board of Governor’s Fee Waiver (BOG) program, Cal Grants
B & C, Chafee Grant (for Foster Youth), and state scholarship programs. As required by Federal regulation, we must take into account and incorporate all
educational funds a student may receive by the institution or external 3 rd parties, when determining student’s financial aid awards.
Conclusions Reached, Continued and New
We continue to identify that one of the greatest challenges our office has faced with regards to staffing trends has been steady increase of applicants and
increasing responsibilities due to new state and federal programs, mandates and regulations, without a corresponding increase in staff to handle the
workload. While additional staff would allow more student advisement and more rapid response on student eligibility, we recognized that the state of the
economy would not allow for additional staffing.
As the college and district are experiencing the effects of the state budget crisis, our office identified multiple strategies to most efficiently handle the
number of students who will apply and follow up on their financial aid files. In the past 24 months, there have been substantial state and federal regulatory
changes, more than the past several years combined. Each time regulations change, and thus student eligibility, it requires a greater demand for student
advisement, as students do not understand why they may no longer be eligible, or the “rules” have changed. As the cycles of registration and financial aid
processing do not always coincide, we will always have more students applying for aid and completing the process than will actually be able to attend
classes, especially as classes become more limited. We still have an obligation to act upon the applications and documentation provided as students attempt
to receive financial aid, as well as communicate to the students and college community along the way.
It is our continued belief that we must improve our technology to combat the increased workload, and achieve more efficiency. Over the course of the last
several months, we identified several technology initiatives, primarily in Banner, to address the problem. If we were able to achieve all of our current
technology enhancements (see proposal for new and continuing initiatives), existing staff would be able to spend more time providing the advisement that
students so desperately need, and less time performing the current manual review, awarding and communication required by federal and state financial aid
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programs/entities.
Unfortunately, the positions of Financial Aid Systems Coordinator and Financial Aid Outreach Liaison have been slated for elimination/layoff. The accuracy
and timeliness of day to day financial aid services will be severely impacted by the loss of the FA Systems Coordinator, and we are extremely limited in our
ability to proceed with technology enhancements. Financial aid education and information on campus and in the community will necessarily be minimal with
the loss of the Financial Aid Outreach Liaison.
2. Student Learning Outcomes Inventory
Data supports the success of our 2009 SLO, “students would be able to apply for financial aid independently, online and on time ”, and our SAO that we will
provide “a financial aid award process that is fair, equitable, and meets the needs of qualified students needing assistance while ensuring compliance with
federal, state and institutional requirements.” (Program Review 3/15/2009) With the Financial Aid Director, all current classified staff positions in the FAO are
integral to meeting these objectives.

The FA Systems Coordinator is crucial to meeting both objectives, in the role of ensuring accuracy and efficiency of systems to award and disburse
aid effectively and in timely manner, developing electronic communications, and implementing technology enhancements to meet the demand of our
students and federal/state regulations.

We are in compliance with complex disbursement, repayment, reconciliation and Return to Title IV regulations, and have “clean” audits due to the
Student Services Specialist III position.

The Outreach Liaison ensures timely and accurate communication and assistance on campus and in the community with financial aid applications.

Student Services Specialists provide the most student contact, verify and award all federal and state financial aid to eligible students, communicate
ineligibility to others, and apply professional judgment by authority of Federal Student Aid programs. Each is responsible for a specific program
(FWS, student loans, Cal Grants, etc.)
Federal and state financial aid programs and regulations are mandated and prescriptive, except in the cases where we must interpret the gray areas to
formulate our own policies and procedures. The cohesiveness of the team has proven itself, as evidenced with our outcomes.
SLO
2007-08 – 2474 applicants at initial download
2009-10 – 4236 (71% increase over two years)
2010-11 – 5724 (35% increase one year, 131% increase over three)
SAO
2007-08 – 2687 recipients of Pell Grant
2009-10 – 4081 (51% increase over two years)
2010-11 – 4354 ytd 3/17/11 (62% increase over two and a half years)
In 2009-10, we disbursed $12.1 million in Pell Grant, $915,954 in other grant aid, $3.3 million in BOG Fee Waivers, and almost $3 million in student loans.
Institutional Research documents that over the past 10 years, the percentage of students applying for financial aid at Chabot has more than doubled, from
22% of student population to 48%.
There is a clear increased workload as more students are applying for and following up on their financial aid, due to the state and federal economy. More
concerning is the effect from enrollment fee increases, and general economic climate which drives more students back to school, and to rely more heavily on
financial aid to survive.
The Financial Aid Office had determined our next course of action had to be the expansion of the self-service options to students in order to successfully
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complete their financial aid application and verification processes electronically, automate the awarding process, and reduce the need for manual intervention
and lengthy student lines. This would have been in addition to the implementation of the BDMS document management software. With the recent layoff of
the Financial Aid Systems Coordinator position, we will not pursue these options at this time.
3. List your accomplishments. How do they relate to your program review, unit planning and SAO/SLO work? Please cite any relevant data
elements (e.g., efficiency, persistence, FT/PT faculty ratios, SAO/SLO assessment results, external accreditation demands, etc.).





Fall 2010 – To offset the standard student phrase, “I didn’t know”, we implemented a Student Checklist that outlined basic student responsibilities in
order to receive federal or state financial aid, to ensure that students have acknowledged their awareness of eligibility requirements to obtain and retain
financial aid.
March 2010 – Implemented process that Systems Coordinator created and had been working on since Summer 2009 with FAO, ITS and Computer
Support staff, to begin emailing regulated student communication rather than printing and mailing same; savings of economy, workload and ecology
o We piloted for the College utilizing SARS Call; is now being utilized by other Student Services departments and Blackboard programs.
Effective 2009-10, we successfully implemented three outreach campaigns in the community and on campus (Fall, Winter and Spring) for consistent and
ongoing financial aid education and application assistance.
Transitioned successfully to Direct Lending from the FFELP lending program, in compliance with Federal mandates effective 7/1/10
We have seen a significant improvement in the quality and timeliness of web page and Zone updates, which provide students with the most accurate and
current information pertinent to student financial aid.
4. List your new and continuing unit goals. Based upon what you accomplished, do you have any changes you are making to your goals or
timeline?
Due to limitations on college and district resources, several of our goals have not been met, and are ongoing into the next cycle of planning, contingent upon
appropriate staffing resources. The following objectives to meet goal D5 are drastically curtailed due to loss of Financial Aid Systems Coordinator and
Outreach Liaison, however we leave in Program Review as they remain our goals. We firmly believe that investment of staffing to implement this project will
provide long term structural improvements for the college/district financial aid programs.
Continuing goals:


Provide regular and ongoing financial aid outreach, application assistance and improved student communication
o On campus
o Community
Maintain timely and quality services
o Revisit our workflow and division of staff duties as program requirements, mandates and volume shifts and changes, to ensure quality and
timeliness of our financial aid services, while still ensuring compliance with all state and federal financial aid regulations, and in light of recent
staff layoffs.
The following are only a few identified issues that must be implemented, and have been on our task list, some for several months. These items are
addressed around the already very full daily workload of the Director and Systems Coordinator. Without the Systems Coordinator position, these and many
other proactive solutions to ensuring financial aid compliance and efficiency will either not be performed, or will not be done so well or timely.
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
1.
Cap funding for remedial at 30 units (compliance issue)
2.
Identify students tagged w/ Bachelors on A&R side to prevent awarding/disbursing of aid (huge compliance and liability issue)
3.
Reduce number of students referred to ATB test by addressing conflicting information between A&R and FAO systems. (cost savings and
workload issue)
4.
Move email process from SARS CALL to using Banner email (ROREMAL) (efficiency and workload issue)
5.
11-12 set up (special issues, in addition to typical detailed set up)
a.
HS transcript – Dept of Education is now asking students to list name, city and state of HS. We will need to ensure consistency of
information between what students provide us, and what they provide A&R. Each uses a different database of codes, so we will need to
devise a different means of identifying and address inconsistent information. When inconsistent information exists, the FAO must resolve.
b.
SAP
i.
Federal mandates require us to modify both policy and procedure with regard to academic eligibility (satisfactory academic
progress)
ii.
Send warning notification to students approaching 90 attempted units, maximum timeframe
Prior to the elimination of the Financial Aid Systems Coordinator, we were in the process of creating an electronic BOG Fee Waiver application process.
The electronic process, which interfaces directly with Banner, will reduce manual workload, manual error and provide a more timely response for
students. It will also assist us greatly in the mandates of reporting that currently require hundreds of hours of staff labor.
o Systems Coordinator works w/ Director, ITS programmer, XAP (the software vendor for CCCApply BOG), and the FAO to set up, test real data
flow to ensure data is applied correctly to student account, for correct semesters, and that data is available for submission in systematic way to
the state for MIS report. Currently in test mode with staff, ITS staff and XAP. (anticipated implementation was May 2011 – uncertain with staff
layoffs)
GOAL D: Vision, Leadership & Innovation - Be an educational leader by continuously supporting and improving learning in our diverse institution.
 D5 Provide safe, secure and up-to-date facilities and technology.
o Improve electronic communication systems on campus to disseminate important information quickly
 Website
 Email and Zone updates
 Electronic boards
o Utilize and incorporate available technology to improve efficiency in processing and awarding financial aid, and in communication with our
students (Strategic Plan D.5.d) –
 Reduce the amount of manual review and labor with automation of repetitious actions
 “Beta Test” Luminous emailing option to improve timely communication with students
 Automate awarding and allow online student authorization
 OCR-capable imaging system for immediate “filing” and availability of heavy volume of incoming paperwork
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5. Discuss how these goals support the college Strategic Plan goals and/or strategies.
See #4 above
6. Solution: Cut and paste your previous timeline and update the “Accomplished?” column, if necessary. Detail the plan for accomplish
your goals. If you are making revisions to your activities or timeline, please indicate that in the “Revised?” column.
Unit Action Plan Timeline
No.
Timeline
1.
End of 2011-12
Milestone Activity
Person(s)
Responsible
Create and implement process and procedures for enhanced
Student Self Service on the Zone to allow for automated
awarding.
Director and FA
Systems
Coordinator
Accomplishe
d?
Yes/No/
In Progress*
No
Revised?
Yes / No
If yes, list
revision
year
No
Do you
need
additional
funds to
support
this
activity?
Yes/No
If, yes,
what
type?**
Staffing
(reinstate FA
Systems
Coordinator)
* Note: As you may be carrying over or planning new activities for this planning cycle, this column should list that all activities are “In Progress.”
** List types such as “equipment,” “supplies,” “staffing,” “contractual services,” etc…
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