May 18, 2010
EASFAA Conference 2010

Irvin Bodofsky
◦ Director of Financial Aid Emeritus
◦ SUNY Upstate Medical University

Dr. William Irwin
◦ Director of Financial Aid Emeritus
◦ Lock Haven University

Michael McGraw
◦ Director of Financial Aid Emeritus
◦ Tompkins Cortland Community College


To share with you what we have learned in
the past couple of years about outsourcing
and how to make it work for you.
In the interest of transparency…
◦ We do consulting, both independently and for
companies.
◦ We are receiving financial compensation for being
here from ProEducation Solutions, LLC.
 Increased applications
 Increased federal regulations
 Reduced resources
 Direct Loan legislation
 Need for training
Increased applications caused by
Negative economy
Rising costs
Parent and student uncertainty
Increased federal regulations
Verification
 increased selection of Pell eligible
 how do you track 30%
More cases of conflicting information
2 Pell Grants per year
Reduced resources:
Staffing
Training
Hardware, software and IT support
Direct Loan transition
 Impact on staff time
 Assignments
 Need for training
 For professional and support staff,
regardless of tenure
 Cost of training?
 Does your institution support training?
It’s time to re-think your business
practices.
The status quo will not continue to be
productive.
 Hire new staff?
 Overtime for current staff?
 Hire temporary staff?
 Close office for processing?
 Hire consultants?
 Outsource?
 Hire new staff?
Economic conditions prohibit this
 Overtime for current staff?
Burnout issues
Impact on retirement benefits
 Hire temporary staff?
Do you have a pool of qualified people?
 Close the office for processing?
Bad for customer service
Make problems worse
 Hire Consultants?
Costly
 Outsource?
Negative image
 Access to qualified staff
 You can control costs - you know how much
you will be paying
 Another set of eyes may find ways to
streamline and improve your process
 May help you see things that are slipping by
(regs, policies, etc.)
 Can be for a defined period of time, or
ongoing
 Image is negative
 How do you insure quality control
 Contract process
 Buy-in from staff, supervisors, other
offices
 Union concerns
 issues - regulatory process
 Cost considerations –
additional expenses for travel and lodging
 IT considerations remote access, security



Carefully define the scope of work (cost,
processes, etc.)
What about insurance/bonding,
confidentiality documents/training?
Customer service issues - processing time
can now be devoted to customer service.

Need to have solid policies and procedures.

How will consultants be trained?

How will quality be controlled?

Get buy in from other offices, especially IT!

Add third party servicers to ECAR asap.
It’s time to re-think your business
practices.
The status quo will not continue to be
productive.