2004 Conference Poster Session Offers Chance to Share Innovative Practices

At NASFAA's first Poster Session in Minneapolis, representatives from nine institutions shared innovative financial aid practices used on their campuses. NASFAA thanks all participating institutions. Information on each of the nine projects submitted follows.

• Who Are You? A Communications System that Knows, by the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Financial aid office officials implemented a communications system that allows for authentication of incoming callers and Web-chatters. Students, and those whom they authorize by sharing their student ID and PIN, can call or Web-chat with professional financial aid counselors and receive the same information that they would in person. The communications system also tracks phone statistics such as number of calls, average time to answer, average length of calls and much more. It also has a queue system where calls and Web chats are taken in the order in which they were received. For additional information, e-mail: Deborah Tollefson, Director of Financial Aid.

• Marketing Financial Aid Awareness Month, by East Tennessee State University. In an effort to encourage students to apply earlier for financial aid and avoid long lines in August, the aid office enlisted the help of the community to remind current and future students and parents that February is a better time to apply for aid. Community businesses are contacted to place announcements on their marquees, in newsletters, on billing statements, posters bulletin boards, or brochures on tables at their various locations. Radio and TV stations are asked to run public service announcements and contact the aid office for interviews. At the university itself, announcements are put on campus marquees, table tents are placed on tables in the student food court, posters are hung on dorm bulletin boards and federal FAFSA 123 brochures with a label that reads in bold print: APPLY NOW, are sent to each campus mail box (approximately 8,000 total). E-mail reminders are sent out campus-wide to faculty, staff, and students. As a result of last February's efforts, students are applying much earlier this year. For additional information, e-mail: Mary Andrews, Counselor, Client Services, or Linda Embree, Assistant Director, Client Services.

• National Credit Education Week, by Texas A&M University. During this week, the Texas A&M University Department of Student Financial Aid offers free seminars to students. The student seminar teaches strategies for managing money wisely while in school, and the senior seminar helps prepare students for employment, to live within their means, and to reinforce their loan repayment options, responsibilities, and obligations. For additional information, e-mail: Debra La Grone, Associate Director, Student Financial Aid.

• Alternative Loan Awarding, by Minnesota State University-Moorhead. At Minnesota State University-Moorhead, the federal loan programs are insufficient for many students. The aid office needed a way to provide information on alternative loan programs in award letters to minimize the "sticker shock" reaction of families--especially parents of first and second year students. Previous trials of awarding a specific alternative loan resulted in over-borrowing and use of multiple loan programs, thus violating the "single lender" philosophy. The solution is to use a unique, generic award called "Alternative Education Loans." The amount of this award is an estimate of direct institutional cost (full-time tuition and fees, average room and board, and average books cost) minus all other aid awarded. The office includes a Q & A page explaining that this "award" could come from many sources, not just alternative loans. It also includes an alternative loan comparison chart, which explains the application process. The challenge is balancing the need to provide information and access to alternative loans with university concerns that students tend to accept any and all loans offered in an award letter. The Q & A format helps to alleviate that concern. It encourages families to look at numerous other sources first, to be conservative if borrowing is necessary, and to remain with one lender/program when possible. All information is also available on our Web site. For additional information, e-mail: Linda S. Tegtmeier, Assistant Director.

• Financial Aid and Off-Campus Study, by the University of Minnesota. The Office of Student Finance participates in the university's Study Abroad Curriculum Integration Project, promoting study abroad. The project is a result of the university's goal to integrate study abroad opportunities and information into college majors and departments. From this, the financial aid office has developed a more effective collaborative relationship with the Learning Abroad Center. This relationship, in turn, has affected positively the services provided to students interested in study abroad opportunities. Although this a large university, the aid office has developed multiple tools to provide a more personal service to each study abroad student seeking financial aid. These tools promote the Study Abroad Curriculum Integration philosophy and the university's commitment to encouraging students and helping them realize that studying abroad is financially attainable. The aid office works with 500 to 600 students per year (approximately half of all study abroad students on the campus). As the numbers continue to increase, UMN has been able to maintain the integrity of financial aid advising. The aid office is still providing, if not enhancing, the same professional service to the general financial aid population. For additional information, e-mail: Lori Ahlstrom, Advisor.

• Check Your Financial Aid Status or Interactive Financial Aid Status, by the University of Minnesota. The Office of Student Finance has broken the financial aid process into six specific steps that students must complete before their financial aid will be disbursed. The Web site is a student-specific site that allows university students to log in and check their personal financial aid status and see exactly where they are in relation to the six steps. As students log in they are able to see what applications or forms need to be completed, what previously required forms have been received, and when and how their financial aid has been disbursed. For additional information, e-mail: Julie Selander, Senior Associate Director.

• On-line Loan Summary for Students, by the University of Michigan. In 2002, the University of Michigan Financial Aid Office implemented a service for students that allows them to access a summary of how much they have borrowed to date through all federal loan programs (Direct Stafford, Perkins, Health Professions, and Nursing Loans). It also shows the private loans they have borrowed while at the university. Students access this personal information on a secure password-protected Web site called Wolverine Access (https://wolverineaccess.umich.edu), which is a university-wide Web-based tool that students use to sign up for classes, view their grades, view their student account charges, and accept and decline financial aid awards, among other services. The Loan Summary lists students' current loan offers, as well as their cumulative loan amounts for each program, so they can see how much they will be borrowing in total for the current year. The site then directs students to another Web site that provides repayment information and links to repayment calculators. Together, these sites help students make informed borrowing choices by providing vital information about how much they will need to pay each month once they enter repayment. For additional information, e-mail: Margaret Rodriguez, Sr. Associate Director.

• Today's Clear and Present Danger to Institutional and Student Success, by the University of Texas-Pan American. Increasing college costs and reliance on student loans to finance higher education are compelling institutions to adopt new approaches to strategic enrollment management. The University of Texas-Pan American has developed default aversion and debt management procedures within an enrollment management context. The planning and student targeting process at UT-Pan American became the core for development of a training model that considers student loan debt management and default aversion efforts in formulating strategies and action plans that can help students manage their finances wisely, make academic progress, and graduate on time. The poster illustrates a model for conducting research, outcomes of UT-Pan American's research efforts, and a framework to facilitate discussions on campus. For additional information, e-mail: Kristina Chavez, Default Prevention Officer or Josie L. Barrett, Director of Institutional Enrollment Services, TG Student Loan Corporation.

• Overcoming Batch Processing, by the University of Colorado at Boulder. At UC Boulder, and everywhere, students and families want accurate and accessible information. Accuracy has always been a goal of FAAs and is improving with technology. Accessibility is increasing with information that is available on-line. That accessibility has also raised expectations in terms of delivery. On-line application processes that result in immediate feedback are commonplace in the corporate world. Yet schools and ED are still stuck on the bus with batch processes. The permanent solution will require ED to allow and support real-time processing. Vendors and homegrown systems will have to be designed in-kind. This project proposes some interim solutions, such as, (1) Setting up operations to accept fax/mail/on-line documents; (2) using workflow (scripting) software to process documents as they come in; (3) using error checks to process documents accurately to diminish the possibility of fast processing leading to immediate mistakes with long-term effects; (4) using on-line applications that display the application status, requested docs, award information; (5) using electronic communication to update students when status has changed (the process itself isn't real-time, but the aid office promptly contacts students when their status changes, thereby resetting their expectation that the process may not be immediate, but the communication is); and (6) using "screen-scraping"/Java technologies to interface with systems to enable student initiated real-time processes (application, award acceptance, etc.). For additional information, e-mail: Trish Pottersmith, Associate Director of Information Systems & Operations, or Art Figel, Assistant Director.

By Marty Guthrie
NASFAA Director of Governmental Affairs

Posted August 2, 2004 on www.NASFAA.org, the Web Site of the
National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA).
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