I think all three are very important, but if I had to go with one, I would got with Service. If you have good customer service, the timeliness and accuracy just kind of fall into place with what you are doing. It is important to have good customer servie. A lot of times, the students we meet with have never done financial aid before. It is important to be able to have good service to help the students understand how financial aid works.
Wendy,
Several students in this forum have made similar comments, especially related to the service aspect of the Financial Aid office. It is very important that your students and parents are confident and comfortable sharing information with the FA team. The discussions are often very personal in nature and the student must know that they can trust their FA team.
Best wishes in your continued online FA process.
Sincerely,
Chyrl Ayers
The service to our student is very important. The key is to answer their questions in a respectfully manner and always in a positive attitude.
Maria,
This forum question has resulted in numerous good and consistent answers. I believe all participants are in agreement on the importance of service. Also, that service goes hand-in-hand with ensuring students and parents have successful experiences when dealing with the FA Department. In my opinion timely and accurate processing with exceptional customer service is critical to all departments within the school.
Sincerely,
Chyrl Ayers
I believe while timeliness and accuracy are extremely important to Financial Aid, customer service is the most important of the three. The way that you interact with students and handle their issues makes a big difference. If you make a mistake or if it takes longer than expected to bring in funding most students will be ok with it, but if you provide poor service with an "I dont care" attitude you might end up losing many prospects and current students.
While timeliness and service are important, I think that accuracy needs to be paid most attention to. If things are not accurate, you have to ask the student for more information. If we have to keep getting more information, the longer it takes to complete the financial aid process. I think that no matter how positive your attitude is while getting the additional information, it will take a toll on customer service.
Jack,
All three aspects are critical to the student/parent experience with in the financial aid process. It is important that the team taking care of the student has a focus on each aspect and strives to ensure the success of the student. It is difficult to be dealing good Customer Service and not be meeting the timeliness and accuracy of processing the student's information.
Keep working toward improving the students' experiences and your team will be successful.
Sincerely,
Chyrl Ayers
Danica,
All three aspects are critical to the student/parent experience with in the financial aid process. It is important that the team taking care of the student has a focus on each aspect and strives to ensure the success of the student. It would difficult focusing on accuracy without ensuring you are providing good Customer Service since accurate processing is ensuring timely delivery of funds. These all go hand in hand to delivering good customer service.
Making the student's experience positive through accurate processing is a great way to take care of your students. Good Job!
Sincerely
Chyrl Ayers
I feel that service is the most important. If you are able to provide excellent customer service to the student a bond or trust will be formed, and more often than not everything else will fall into place. They will have required documents for you, abide to your deadlines and that will lead to accurate packaging.
I believe Service is the most important characteristic of Financial Aid. The students are the reason that our doors are open and that we all have employment. It is imperative that we provide breakthrough customer service and a memorable experience for the student so we can build trust with our student.
Timeliness and accuracy are back end processes. We must be accurate with title IV funds otherwise we cannot provide good service to our customers. We as financial service advisors cannot rush through any process involving financial aid due to our client, the DOE and our commitment to our institutions.
Lisa,
Determining the most important characteristics of financial aid is a very personal decision. I completely agree that an open door policy to your students and parents is critical to the success of the financial aid process. It has been my experience when you focus on strong service skils the timely and accurate processing follows. It is important to remember that timely processing does not equate to rushing the student process.
Best wishes in your continued pursuit of financial aid online learning.
Sincerely,
Chyrl Ayers
I would have to say that service would be the most important. This is due to the fact that I believe if you are servicing the student properly you would need to be accurate and timely. It relates back to the saying “If you take care of the customer the business will take care of itself."
Todd,
Understand yourn perspective on the most important characteristic and there is no wrong answer. A large portion of the FA Professionals that weigh in on this topic see Service as the most important and another group feels all three go hand in hand - accuracy, timeliness and service. The most important aspect is ensuring that your students are satisfied with their experience.
Sincerely,
Chyrl Ayers
All items are important because they relate and reinforce a positive relation between the prospective student and the educational institution. Failure to act in a timely, acurate way will result in below par service.
i AGREE WITH YOU, WITHOUT ALL THREE COMPONENTS NOTHING WITH ME EFFECTIVE
The most important characteristic? in relation to what, students services, accounting of funds, efficiency.??
Ramon,
As you can tell from the numerous other post most feel that all three have value and play an important role in the success of the financial aid process.
Sincerely,
Chyrl Ayers
ANGELA,
You are correct all three are necessary to make the process successful in a timely and accurate manner for your students.
Sincerely,
Chyrl Ayers
Ramon,
This question was intend to be viewed as the overall process of financial aid. All characteristics are important in the success of the student experience. The degree of importance may vary based on the department or service within the campus but all have a place and value.
Sincerely,
Chyrl Ayers
Service,Accuracy,and Timliness (SAT for short)are all equally important. If you don't have SAT your prospective student might not SIT. This belief is universal from the northeast to the deep south and all thoughout the US. I believe ongoing discussions should take place within the FA department on ways to improve in all three areas.
