Great answer. Smile and positive attitude is very important
I would have to say Service should always be #1 , because if you create a good experience for each student and are helping them to understand the process. Any other issues that may arise you have created a good foundation and trust between the student and school.
Nicole,
Many participants in this forum agree with you on Service being the most important. All three aspects are necessary for success and many feel that these all go hand-in-hand that you cannot have good service without taking timely and accurate action on behalf of your students. It is very important to have that solid foundation when meeting the overall needs of the students.
Sincerely Chyrl
Chyrl Ayers
All three of these characteristics are important. Of course when processing financial aid, accuracy is key.
Frances,
The characteristics are all critical to the overall success of the student's experience with Financial Aid. Also, these characteristics really apply to all aspects of the process - all departments must be providing customer service while performing the task accurately and timely.
Sincerely, Chyrl
Chyrl Ayers
I believe accuracy is most important. Most of the time mistakes are ultimately what drives a student to see financial aid. Either the funding didn't come in or it's incorrect. If we are accurate then students may have less chance to have a negative experience in the first place. That being said of course timeliness and customer service is very important.
I selected accuracy because it's been my experience if I package the students correctly everything else follows. The student receives his/her funds on time, there is no balance to contend with and I have in essence provided good customer service.
Everyone makes mistakes, usually because we rush. If I find myself trying to hurry too much I will scale "my hurry it up attitude" back a bit and look over the package a second time just to make sure I didn't miss anything.
Lisa,
The most important characteristic of Financial Aid is a very personal choice for all FA Professionals. I respect your comments and your approach to handling students - all three characteristics listed are important to the student's overall experience and will leave a lasting impression.
Best wishes in your continued online education process.
Sincerely, Chyrl
Chyrl Ayers
Accuracy is most important to me in the FA process. Bad information in on the front side can cause ISIR corrections and unneeded verifications. Making sure the student uses the IRS retrieval tool, stops lots of problems that could occur. Having the student tell you who is being counted in the household and how they or the parents are actively supporting those people, helps a lot. Making sure married folks do not file head of household, cuts down on problems.The more accurate the student is on the initial filing of the FAFSA, the easier it is to get them packaged and get their funds disbursed. Having said all of that, admissions must be timely in addressing inquiries, FA must be timely in getting packages finished, and Customer service is behind everything else that keeps students in school.
Allan,
This is a very personal question for all participants in this course. I appreciate your well-thought out answer and respect your position on the importance of Accuracy - accurate information certainly drives the process to a smoother completion for the student, parent (if applicable) and the campus team. The handling of the FAFSA information will enable all to complete the process in an efficient and accurate manner.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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?
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
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,
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://www.ifap.ed.gov. The link to the FSA Handbook is on the right hand side of the page. I think Volume 3 - Calculating Award Packages, Chapter 1, 3 and 5 will be instrumental in understanding how to structure the awards and discusses the different methodologies for awarding/disbursing aid. From a reporting standpoint I would recommend Volume 4 - Processing Aid and Managing Federal Student Aid Funds. I this information should provide insight into the process of federal student aid.
Best wishes as your institution moves forward in the arena of student financial aid.
Sincerely, Chyrl
Chyrl Ayers
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.
