Maximizing Financial Aid Budgets with Third-Party Servicers

In American education, around 85% of all students who head to college receive financial aid. On top of that, in each application cycle, there are 17.9 million applications sent in. That means the demands on financial aid departments are at all-time highs. Yet, budgets are often quite tight, making it hard to hire enough personnel to process the applications that come through in a timely manner. FA Solutions LLC recommends the best practices for Financial Aid Directors who want to maximize their budgets, and one of those best practices is partnering with a third-party servicer to help process financial aid applications.

1. Lessen Demand on Staff without Sacrificing the Student Experience: When your financial aid department partners with a third-party servicer, you can process a higher number of applications or process your applications more quickly without having to hire additional staff members. Your current staff members can focus on the applicant-facing actions while the processor handles the high volume of applications that come through the school. This maximizes your hiring budget while still ensuring your students get a top-quality experience.
2. Process Files More Quickly: With a third-party servicer, you’re able to move files through the process faster. The servicer handles all of the processing and documentation. Standard applications can move through the process in two to three days, allowing you to serve more students without increasing the size of your staff.
3. Embrace Automation: Automation will help make every aspect of your financial aid office more profitable, but learning a new software program and training your team to use it well can take time. You can skip this learning curve while embracing automation when you partner with a third-party servicer who knows these programs and how to implement them into your financial aid office’s process.
4. Provide Students with Self-Service Access: Sometimes, you can maximize your financial aid budget by eliminating some tasks. If there are tasks students can handle on their own, such as checking the status of a file, then let them do so. Coordinating services through a third-party servicer can let students access account information when necessary. They can manage loans and meet scholarship requirements with fewer calls to the financial aid office. Your financial aid officers can be available to guide students through the complex parts of the financial aid process and stay on top of regulatory changes, while the students who need to check their accounts quickly can do so on their own.

These are the four main ways that you can maximize your financial aid department’s budget with help of a third-party servicer. If you are

ready to take advantage of these benefits, FA Solutions is ready to assist. Our third-party processing, along with our consulting and staffing

solutions, will help your financial aid office maximize its profitability. Check out our services or reach out today to learn more.

Need some help finding the right financial aid solutions so you can keep funding higher education without losing sleep? FA Solutions is here to help, offering consulting, staffing and third party processing to smooth your workday and support enrollment at your university. 

Our motto is "A True Extension to your Financial Aid Office," and that’s exactly what we seek to provide to all our clients. Want to learn more? Please feel free to check out our services or get in  touch today.