Jenifer,
Most of the participants agree with your assessment. If you and your team are focused on assiting the student and ensuring a successful experience related to the Financial Aid process it is almost impossible to do this without satisfying all three aspects. Each day all members of the college team should focus on meeting all three of these characteristics to guarantee the students a winning experience.
Best wishes in your continued online educational experience.
Sincerely,
Chyrl Ayers
As I work in the corporate office for our school, and we have four different locations, for me timeliness plays a large part in keeping our financial aid process running smoothly. When overseeing a new start date, that is happening simultaneously for four schools, receiving the student's valid ISIR in a timely fashion is crucial in facilitating the financial aid process. Good communication and prompt follow up with the financial aid advisors at our schools, I find, is what keeps us on track for receiving funding on time and when expected for all our students.
Marni,
Most of the post from other participants reference the importance of all three aspects; however, our point of view may differ based on our roles. I understand your comments since I have worked in all aspects of the Financial Aid process from campus to servicer. When you are overseeing the FA process at a corporate level you interaction is minimum with the students so I can see the importance timeliness would play in your role. You want to ensure that the students' funds are delivered timely which in term benefits the customer service and accuracy part of he process.
Sincerely,
Chyrl Ayers
All three are very important; the reason is because when you work with customer services all have to be perfect, in my opinion. This helps us work faster and effective for the student.
ricardo,
I think the group on a whole agrees with your position. A success Financial Aid Office requires all three characteristics to provide outstanding service to students (and parents). Several members of the group have focused on the customer service aspect; however, when providing good customer service you are striving to process timely and accurately. The items all go hand-in-hand when meeting the needs of your students and their families.
Best wishes in your continued online education process related to financial aid.
Sincerely,
Chyrl Ayers
Accuracy is the most important as far as the Dept. of Education is concerned since they issue findings solely based on that and unfortunately, do not award schools with excellent timeliness or customer service.
LAUREN, I would agree with you that accuracy is the most important characteristic when you dealing with ED and an audit. Your Financial Aid office also has to ensure that you are providing your students with timeliness and good customer service. I would say that all three go hand-in-hand. It is important to balance all three and not overlook any of these characteristics. Best of luck in your pursuit of continued financial educationl knowledge.
Sincerely,
David McGuffee
Although they are all important we here stress SERVICE as the most important. The student are the reason we recieve a paycheck. Therefore SERVICEis our #1 priorty. Even if a student does not qualufy for any type of financial aid we make sure that they know "WHY". Every individual receives the same "SUPERIOR SERVICE" regadless of the outcome.
Gilda,
Great approach. I agree all three are important and understand the need to focus on service. It is important to make students and parents to feel that they are being assisted throughout the process. It is great that you ensure superior service regardless of the outcome.
Sincerely,
Chyrl Ayers
I think service and accuracy are the most important. It is imperative to give the potential student great customer service for they could easily leave and go to an other school, but we want them at our school. By giving them the service they need and deserve we gain their trust and faith in us. By being accurate with what we say we create an atmosphere of better informed student about T4 and its requirements. There tends to be less anxiety amongst them if we expalin the process and are accuate in what we tell them. Again this musters a since of trust and if a mistake happens maybe they would udnerstand that errors can happen and we are all human.
Rhonda,
I think all of your points are very valid. Each encounter with our students should be done in a positive manner while working toward completion of their Financial Aid requirements. I think it is critical that your students are comfortable with you and understand the requirements. The more time we invest in the students the greater their chance of success.
Sincerely,
Chyrl Ayers
I think Service and Accuracy are the two important items in the FA process. Service, because most students/parent(s) I have met are normally unable to pay for tuition and are not comfortable with applying for loans. With proper training, an FA administrator should be able to clearly present the information to a student/parent(s), so they understand and are hopefully able to overcome their fears. With accuracy, the less time a student/parent(s) returns for an appointment, the more comfortable and confident a prospective student will be in attending your school. Too many return appointments can seem like the FA administrator is not knowledgeable.
DENISE,
You make a very valuable point about return visits to FA. It may appear to the student and parent that a lack of understanding exist if they are continually asked to return to the FA Office. Also, it is critical that students and parents understand the FA process, especially as it related to to loan borrowing. The more FA Administrators do to make them comfortable the more successful the experience will be.
Sincerely
Chyrl Ayers
All three are very important. I really can't choose one over the other. Without Accuracy you may need to make several corrections that could affect the time it takes to process a file. Service is also key to make sure the student understands what they need to do so that their file can be processed in a timely manner. All of these elements work together to ensure a quick and accurate file submission as well as a satisified student.
This is a good question. I find that timeliness and service are important but only if there is a foundation of accuracy.
Craig,
I like the way your framed your response. As you can see from the many post on this topic - most agree all three play an important role in the success of the financial aid office. It is critical to ensure that all students/parents are confident in timely and accurate service provided in a professional manner.
I am looking forward to other post from you. Best wishes in your continued pursuit of online FA knowledge.
Sincerely,
Chyrl Ayers
There are several important characteristics. For me one of them is the timeliness. It is one of the most important aspects for the student. Timeliness is important because it enables the student to be well informed of their financial aid options available to them. It also encourages the student to begin their studies quickly because they have been informed of the aid available to them.
I would think service is the key ingredient! All schools deliver the same type of federal and state aid, and probably most are in the same tuition range!! Service is the key. If you have to explain to a student why he/she is not able to get Pell or a loan, the right attitude from the financial aid officer will help the student understand better! The employee should shows he/she cares about the student issues.
Maria, I agree with you that timeliness is such an important aspect of financial aid packaging. Ensuring the student has been completely serviced in an accurate way and in a timely manner is important because it allows the student to concentrate on the main reason they are attending college, to get an education.
Regards,
David McGuffee
Sergio, I think your point is well taken. Each encounter with our students should be done in a positive manner while working towards completion of their financial aid requirements. Customer service, accuracy, and timeliness work hand-in-hand to ensure they feel comfortable working with the financial aid office and understand the requirements.
Best of luck,
David McGuffee
