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5 Ways to Impress Your Dean through Financial Aid Servicing

Although acquiring financial aid is a must for large numbers of college students, the financial aid process can seem to be daunting. Fortunately, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) and other student financial aid organizations have no shortage of tips to make the process easier and more effective for people from all backgrounds.

Here are just a few ways to streamline financial aid servicing for your college dean or other campus financial aid professionals. By following these general guidelines, you will make financial aid processing easier for school administrators and ensure that you are efficiently streamlining the process without facing challenges.

1. The personal one-on-one connection between staff and the student.

On-call resources should be readily available to meet students’ financial needs. As a Financial Aid Administrator you must determine exactly what that need is. [PV2] The colleges with high FAFSA filing rates reach out to students to personally make filing the FAFSA part of the enrollment process and do not wait for students to make the first contact. The personal one-on-one connection made between the financial aid staff member and the student is invaluable in initiating the process for filing the application. To quote one financial aid director, “creating a ‘client services’ environment that is responsive to students, reinforced with an adequate use of technology and production-based processing, is essential.”

2. Align yourself with the most updated Financial Aid programs.

At a minimum, colleges’ financial aid offices should be prepared to reach out to students and parents to provide timely and accurate information about financial aid, and help them understand the true costs and financial benefits of college education. Ensuring that the college is compliant with ever changing regulations reinforces the role! The core of this work includes providing detailed information about college expenses, the sources of aid and applicable rules and requirements, and support throughout the application process, a process that is not always straightforward and simple. Ensure that you are familiar with the latest affairs of private, state and federal financial aid programs.

3. Strategic Institutional Outreach and Community Partnerships.

The college may know which community organizations refer students to the college and could use this list to build a stronger referral process that includes early help with the student aid application. Partnerships between colleges and community organizations provide a low-cost and mutually beneficial process to help adult students understand the opportunities offered by the college, along with knowledge about options for receiving financial aid. As the Financial Aid Administrator a crucial role is to serve the population of the potential community college students and can provide a transition from the students’ familiar environment to the unfamiliar world of college.

4. Willingness to help enroll and retain students.

Many students could not attend or remain in school without financial assistance. To overcome this challenge facilitating receipt of substantial sums of money to help students meet institutional costs will be beneficial. Provide student employment; on- campus jobs help support academic departments, libraries, food service, and other facets of institutional operations. Maintain membership and participate in professional associations– both state or federal –and private organizations, which provide opportunities for advocacy and professional development.

5. Get the professional help you need.

Don’t make the financial aid process any harder than it needs to be. By securing quality consulting and processing to a third-party partner, you can ensure that everything is done right the first time!

At FASOL, we help by customizing Financial Aid Consulting services for your school’s area of concern. We believe in becoming Financial Aid Extension to our Partner Schools in a cost effective manner. Please feel free to contact us today with any questions, for more information or to schedule a consultation with some of our higher education professionals.

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fasolutions • Jul 28, 2021
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