Leveraging Collaboration
Between Financial Aid and
Student Accounts
Elgin Community College
• Established in 1949
• Two Year Community College
• Associate Degrees and Various
Certificate programs awarded
• No on-campus housing
• Enrollment Fall 2012 =
approximately 11,500 students
• FY 2012 Tuition Revenue =
$17.4 million
• FY 2012 Financial Aid disbursed =
$22.2 million
Vice President, Business and Finance
Managing Director, Student Financial
Services
Bursar
Assistant Bursar
3 FT Cashier
1 PT Cashier
2 FT A/R Specialists
Director, Financial
Aid
Assistant
Director
1 FT Technical Specialist
1 FT Scholarship Coordinator/Work-Study
3 FT Advisors
1 FT Financial Aid Assistant
2 PT Front Desk Receptionists
Systems
Analyst
Elgin Community College
Communications:
• Demonstrate how the two offices must work
together
EXAMPLE
• Per semester meetings of review of pending
financial aid and routine reconciliation
• Per semester reconciliation of accounts
receivable
• Analysis of what created the balance
• Strategize ways to prevent students from
creating balance
EXAMPLE
Financial Aid/ Student Accounts
Reconciliation Process Flow
Elgin Community College
Uncollected Student Tuition and Fees
(Bad Debt Expense at Year-end)
$996,576
$581,789
$352,500
$260,000
$216,280
$204,539
$122,927
FY2006
FY2007
FY2008
FY2009
FY2010
FY2011
FY2012
Elgin Community College
Advantages
• No additional staff needed to increase efficiencies
• Less financial resources used as fewer accounts are
sent to the outsourced arm of the collection efforts
• Staff are empowered to guide students to an
appropriate payment plan (registration not allowed
till balance is paid in full)
• Students feel “heard” about what happened during
the term and Student Accounts staff can assist them
or guide them to Financial Aid
Elgin Community College
Outreach
Southern Virginia University
•
•
•
•
Founded in 1867
Four year private
Bachelor of Arts degrees
70% of students live on-campus
• Enrollment Fall 2012 = 729 students
• FY 2012 Gross Tuition Revenue =
$13.7 million
• FY 2012 Financial Aid Disbursed =
$14.2 million
Southern Virginia University
What We Did
•
•
•
•
Increased communication and cooperation
Integrated physical office space
Combined customer service functions
Created independent department
Southern Virginia University
Vice President of
Finance
Controller
Director of Student
Financial Services
Senior Accountant
1 FT Financial Aid Specialist
1 FT A/R Coordinator
Financial Aid Director
Asst FA Director
1 FT Cashier
Accounts
Payable/Payroll
1 FT Human Resources
1 PT Student Housing Assistant
1 Part Time Data
Coordinator
Southern Virginia University
External Communications
• Simplify and streamline communications
– Missing financial aid information on invoices
– Reminders from financial aid about payment deadlines
– Consolidate and simplify letter and email
correspondence
• Do not “bounce” students between offices
– Answer frequently asked questions for the other office
– Find the answer rather than transfer the question
Southern Virginia University
Internal Communication
• Sharing information about financial aid with
bursar and student account information with
financial aid
• Cross-training on policies and processes
• Dedicated lines of communication
– Walkie-talkies
• Integrated record of communication history
Southern Virginia University
Suggestions for Increased Collaboration
• Consider creating a wiki to facilitate inter-office sharing
of information about policies, processes, and
precedents
• Begin by offering to help other office with their efforts
– If financial aid succeeds the student account gets paid
– When the accounts are paid the employees get paid
• Invite member of other team to join your team
meetings
• Share a physical space/adjoining work spaces
Outstanding Account Receivables as a Percentage
of Total Amount Invoiced by Institutional Type
5
4
3
4 yr Privates
Southern Virginia
2
1
0
2008
2009
2010
2011
Additionally…
According to the Student Satisfaction Inventory (SSI) Southern
Virginia has outperformed the National Four-Year Private school
average in every category relating to financial aid and
student accounts since 2009
University of Delaware
• The University of Delaware: a stateassisted, Land, Sea, Space Grant,
Carnegie Research University
• Enrollment: 21,489 (17,092 UGRD,
3,617 GRAD and 780 PCS)
• 64% of undergraduate and 74% of
graduate students are from out-of-state
• FY12 Financial Snapshot:
• Revenue Tuition, Fees, Room and Board:
$465.5 Million (net of scholarships)
• Financial Aid Disbursed*: $165M in
($112M Federal/$10M State/$43
institutional/endowment)
University of Delaware
• The University of Delaware: a state-assisted, Land
Grant, Sea Grant, Space Grant, Carnegie Research
University
• Enrollment: 21,489 (17,092 UGRD, 3,617 GRAD and
780 PCS)
• 64% of undergraduate and 74% of graduate students are
from out-of-state
• FY12 Financial Snapshot:
– Revenue from Tuition, Fees, Room and Board: $465.5 Million (net of
scholarship and fellowship allowance) - about 55% of operating budget
– Financial Aid Disbursed*: $165M in Financial Aid ($112M Federal/$10M
State/$43 institutional/endowment)
*Rounded Figures
A Little History
• Effective March 2010, the University of Delaware
implemented an integrated Student Financial
Services Model. The goal of this transition was to
integrate our Financial Aid and Billing and
Collection Offices to leverage resources to (1)
provide seamless services for students and
families and (2) to ensure the most efficient
methods of conducting the business processes
of the offices.
Organizational Summary
Student Financial Services
Student Financial
Services
1 Director
Student
Services
One-Stop Service
Outreach
Communications
9 FTE
Operations
Verification
Work-Study
Scholarships
Loans
5 FTE
Cash
Controls
Cash Processing
(Student and Dept)
Third Party and NonStudent Billing
Collections/AR
Reconciliations
6 FTE
Compliance
Packaging
Endowment/Budget
Oversight
Federal and Ad Hoc
Reporting
Training
2 FTE
Systems
System Set-up
/Support
Website/Webform
Development
Peoplesoft
Maintenance
Security
IT Liaisons
Process Scheduling
2 FTE
Administrative
HR Liaison
Records Tracking
Dept Budget Oversight
Misc Adm Duties
1 FTE
However…
• The collaboration of Student Accounts and
Financial Aid is essential to ensure
students/families receive the experience they
deserve/expect. Best Practices: Focus on
student-centered processes vs.
institution/department-centered ones.
• Regardless of your model…the following are
ideas to enhance the working relationships
between these two areas that rely on each other
to meet their responsibilities
Best Practices to be Highlighted
• Communications
• Receivable Management (Collections)
• Integrated Web Presence
Best Practice
• Develop a comprehensive communication
plan that encompasses all communications
students/families will receive from
Financial Aid and Student Accounts to
identify synergies and integration for clear,
non-redundant messaging
Communications
• Emails have understandably become a common
mode of communication
– Minimal costs
– Overall, easy to produce to communicate
• There must be efforts to ensure
communications have the desired response.
– Too many can reduce their effectiveness or
inadvertently increase service volume.
Communications
• Questions to ask yourself of your
institution:
– Do you have a comprehensive list of every potential
communication a student and/or parent may receive
from the Student Accounts/Financial Aid Offices
combined? When they go out? How they correspond
with each other?
– Do your communications that are sent to students
and families get shared between Financial Aid and
Student Accounts for feedback/suggestions?
Communications
• Suggestions:
– Identify staff who have perspective from both areas
to work together to develop the communications
– Evaluate at least yearly for changes
– Store templates in a centralized location
• Key Impacts:
– Cohesive, value-added messaging
– Cuts down on # of communications, which WILL
impact volume
– Effective training tool for all staff
Communication Plan Sample Fields
Month
Description of Communication
Templates
• This should link to the actual visual/word document
PURPOSE
•
Define why it's being sent
Rules
• Define the criteria/query/data source
Scheduled
• Defines if once set-its scheduled or one-time
Recipients
• What email types (applicant/billing/ISIR parent/Billing parent etc)
Target Date
METHOD
• System/Manual
Communication Code
• Corresponds to our system codes
NOTES
Best Practice
• Develop a method to collaborate
proactively to assist students who have
financial difficulties for consolidated
outreach to reduce delinquencies
Collections/Outreach
• Both Financial Aid and Student Accounts have a
fundamental goal: To assist students and
families with their financial responsibilities to
meet their educational goals
– Capitalize on this shared responsibility
– Develop proactive outreach steps to work
with students and families who are having
difficulties from the beginning
Collections/Outreach
• Questions to ask yourself of your
institution:
– Is the Financial Aid Office aware of students
who are delinquent to assist with proactive
support in potentially getting these students
aid?
– Do you allow Financial Aid counselors to
make reasonable payment arrangements on
delinquent students?
Collections/Outreach
• Suggestions:
– Identify and task staff who have perspective from
both areas to work together to develop the outreach
goals
– Develop an outreach schedule around the key
semester deadlines
• Key Impacts:
– United front to students/families from both areas
– Increased focus on delinquencies
– Increased cross-training, better perspective on each
others’ roles
Best Practice
• Develop a comprehensive web presence of
both financial aid and student accounts
information. Create student-focused,
consolidated information.
Web Presence
• Web presence is generally maintained by each
department
– However, students/families perceive the work
we do as integrated
– One-stop web presence can be developed
even when physical or organizational
integration is not necessary or feasible
• Ideally, the consolidated site would guide the
student through the steps from beginning to end
Sample of ‘My Finances’
Sample of ‘My Finances’
Questions
Contact Info:
Melissa J. Stone
mstone@udel.edu
(302) 831-8189
Kim Wagner
kwagner@elgin.edu
(847) 214-7124
Tyson Cooper
tyson.cooper@svu.edu
(540) 261-2716