Get Your Students Hired
Which of the three items - Timeliness, Accuracy or Service is most important to you in your process? Provide an explanation on why you selected the specific item.
The most important would be Service. This is vital during every step of the process to ensure the students recognize that we want them here at our school and want them to succeed.
Going only by my experience, I find that "Service" is most important. Student Accounts/Business Office/Financial Aid office's unfortunately see a completely different side of students when it comes to money. Our offices have to correct problem's and be a console to sometimes irrational people. If you do not have exceptional customer service dealing with "unhappy", or "upset" students can be difficult and stressful. It's really easy to be nice to someone that is nice to you. The true test of your customer service is to be friendly with someone who is not very friendly to you. At that same time have them leave the office happy.
Laura,
All of your points are accurate and excellent. Your thoughts on the importance of accurate information for building a relationship is very true. It is difficult to recover a student's trust when they feel you have not given them accurate information. The other characteristics also build a relationship with students and have an equal place in the overall experience.
Sincerely, Chyrl
Chyrl Ayers
The most important item to me in my process is Accuracy. I have found that in my experience, it is much harder to fix a broken relationship with a student due to a mistake in their Financial Aid awards. Students trust Financial Aid Advisors to give them the most accurate and correct information.
Karen,
Most of the participants have a very strong position on the most important characteristic. Each of us come to this decision in a very personal and professional manner. All three aspects are necessary and it is difficult to excel in one and the other two not be present.
Sincerely, Chyrl
Chyrl Ayers
I think that Timeliness would be the most important characteristic. You can have accuracy and great service but if your not getting to the students and processing them in a timely manner you will probably not have great customer service and because you will possibly be hurrying your accuracy may be affected. If you move the student along the process in a timely manner both accuracy and great service should go right along with your processes.
Nicole, Very good response to this question. All three characteristics are all important. Each work hand in hand to ensure the student/parent is taken care of in an accurate and timely manner. Effort should always be put forth daily to ensure timely and accurate processing while delivering it with outstanding customer service.
Regards,
David McGuffee
I would say all three are very important in my process, but if I had to pick one to be ranked higher than the rest, it would have to be service. When it comes to our students, it's extremely important that they leave the Financial Aid office feeling like they understand what they are borrowing, how our tuition is charged and how we can help them determine how to pay for school. I think when it comes to accuracy and timeliness, if those are lacking that can have a direct effect on your customer service because you then can end up with students who miss out on funding or who were given wrong information and they become upset, so all three are important in the process.
With my FA team, we tend to be very black & white, regimented people. While this is excellent for accuracy and timeliness, it can sometime be difficult for us to provide the "warm fuzzy" experience our students need. We also realized lately that we were feeling overwhelmed with many of the changes within our company's FA process This, in turn, was affecting our attitudes. Consequently, we have made Service our focus. We talk weekly if not daily about positive customer experiences. I go out of my way to recognize the team members when I see good customer service in progress. We also have greatly improved our ability to recognize and refocus when the team's attitude is struggling.
Deb,
The information provided I really not sufficient for me to give clear and accurate instructions. However, I would recommend that you review the 14/15 FSA Handbook located at on the IFAP website (http:/
Best wishes as your institution moves forward in the arena of student financial aid.
Sincerely, Chyrl
Chyrl Ayers
Not sure if we are SAY or BBAY; I will provide you with some additional information.
We operate on a quarter hour basis and applicants are required to have completed 24 qtr hrs of gen ed credits to be eligible. The program runs Sept. thru April and the length is 36 weeks, resulting in 128.5 quarter hours which equates to 3.6 quarters. Multi-term compressed may not be the appropriate description; basically, it is an intensive immersion program which requires students to participate in programming 10 hours a day, 6 days a week. Upon completion, students earn an Associate of Science degree.
Since we are just beginning the accreditation process, TIV eligibility is still in the future, but we want to begin understanding the process and requirements.
Deb,
Many of the other participants agree with your thoughts - all are important but if forced to chose it is Customer Service. It is my thought that great customer service should always result in timely and accurate processing since all three go hand-in-hand.
Your other question is more difficult to address since I am not 100% clear on what you mean by multi-term compressed. This could mean many different things. I am willing to assist but need some clarification - are you offering non-standard terms (if so what are the lengths) or standard terms comprised on multi-small modules forming a standard term? Are you running an SAY or BBAY (if BBAY which one)? Are you offering your programs in credit or clock hours? If you could provide the additional information I should be able to advise you on some of your questions related to packaging, disbursing and reporting.
Sincerely, Chyrl
Chyrl Ayers
All three play important roles, but if forced to choose one, customer service would be most important; in fact, timeliness and accuracy contribute to excellent customer service. Regarding timeliness---we are a new institution just beginning the accreditation process and looking ahead to how the financial aid process will apply to us. We also have one start date with multiple terms compressed into eight months (Sept-Apr) or one academic year which results in a 2-year degree. What affect (if any) will this have on timing of any part of the process, esp. in relation to reporting, disbursements, and award repackaging?
RON,
All great points and many other participants echo your thoughts. It is impossible to delivery outstanding service without providing accurate and timely processing. Errors will occur and it critical how you recover from these. Effort should be put forth daily to ensure timely and accurate processing while delivering it with outstanding customer service.
Sincerely, Chyrl
Chyrl Ayers
While all 3 are very important, I feel SERVICE is paramount as it can overcome small mistakes in either of the other two. There is no doubt that ACCURACY and TIMELINESS are both important and necessary,it is a fact of life that mistakes will be made. When they are, it is imperative that the necessary steps are taken to correct the problem and let the other party know you are working for them to rectify it.
Ori,
Customer service is very important to the process and it has been my experience high customer service will result in timely and accurate processing. It is very difficult to not have all three of these to work in harmony. An extension of being trustworthy, reliable and honest is processing and handling the student in a timely and accurate manner. Great thoughts.
Best wishes in your continued pursuit of online FA Knowledge.
Sincerely, Chyrl
Chyrl Ayers
Although each of these items is extremely important, I find that customer service is the one item listed that stands above the rest.
Every student has a unique Financial Aid situation. Some students have a smooth, seamless process and others have barriers and speed bumps. However, no matter what a student’s Financial Aid package looks like, the most memorable part of the Financial Aid process is the Financial Aid Officer-student relationship. For many students, applying for Financial Aid is the most important financial decision that they have made thus far in their lives. They want to work with someone who is trustworthy, reliable, and honest.
For these reasons, customer service is the most important part of the Financial Aid process at my institution.
Navin,
This was a very personal forum question and as you can see from other post there is a wide-range of of opinions on the most important characteristic. Man of the participants agree with you and some see a specific characteristic having more importance than others. When a Financial Aid Office is putting the student first it is difficult to not find all of these in that FA Office. All characteristics play a role in the success of the student and the FA Office.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this important topic.
Sincerely, Chyrl
Chyrl Ayers
I don't think that any one of those is more important than the others. For everything to work smoothly and to have a happy student and parent, I have to make sure that I treat each item with the utmost attention and importance.