Students and Staff WIN with Financial Aid STEPS Projects!

As many of you know, the STEPS Quick Wins Projects are well underway and all projects are scheduled to wrap up by the end of June. The Quick Wins are projects that can be implemented using technology already in place and that would result in high-value changes for the system set-up and process. Of the 17 Quick Win projects, five of them are focused on improving financial aid and veterans’ processes.

WHY SO MANY PROJECTS FOCUSING ON FINANCIAL AID?
Constant shifting of federal, state and institutional mandates make the financial aid process a challenge to manage. It is clear the college currently has a knowledgeable and well-coordinated team in place that effectively manages this process. This academic year alone the financial aid staff processed 30 percent more applications than the year before without any additional staff by improving processes and relying more on technology. We want to continue in this direction so we can replace manual steps with value-added service to the students. 

TIME SAVINGS
Time savings have been calculated for the first three Quick Win projects that have been completed or are near completion. The 400 staff hours of projected savings will go a long way in providing extra service to our growing number of students. This extra time will also give the staff time to address complex compliance issues as they come along.

PROJECT TEAM
Overseeing the project teams is Jennifer Hoege, STEPS business owner and associate director, Enrollment Services. Marcia Forbes, associate manager, Financial Aid, is the team lead on all projects. And of course, successful project completion could not be possible without the capable support of Steve Hineline from Technology Services. Photo: The Financial Aid STEPS Team (left to right)...Elaine Wilkenson, Kate Sopha, Patti Keena-Brigson, Marcia Forbes, Jennifer Hoege, Janell Benish and Steve Hineline. Not pictured: Lisa Keller and Wendy Stalker.

SUMMARY OF PROJECTS: 
Financial Aid One-Term Processing – If a student only applies for one semester of financial aid, the request needed to be processed manually. This took more time and could delay disbursement to the student. This was the first quick win the project team could officially stamp COMPLETE. The benefit will be 100 staff hours saved per year plus the added bonus of increased student satisfaction when they receive their financial aid quicker.

Award Announcement and Acceptance – This project is also near completion. Students will now be able to view and accept their financial aid award online. This process will allows the students to review their whole award, and select only those funds that make financial sense for them (ex: accept loan money but decline Work Study). This should allow us to better monitor and manage the amount of Work Study funding we’re able to award, maximizing the benefit for more students. This could help our default management, as we’re only certifying loans for those who want them. We also eliminate the need to return loan money that students decline after it’s disbursed. The anticipated staff savings time (within fiscal services and financial aid) on this project is 200 hours annually.

Title IV Refund Processing – If a student receiving a grant drops a class they potentially owe money back to the government. The process to calculate the payback is a manual one for both financial aid and fiscal services. This quick win project will automate the process and provide the student with information more quickly on the repayment amount. In addition to Marcia and Steve, Kate Sopha, Judy Nelson and Jeff Kuhn are also part of this team. The anticipated staff savings time on this project is 100 hours annually. And, work that has been completed now will also benefit us when we move to the next version of PeopleSoft.

Improved Checklist SQR – This project will simply allow the Financial Aid staff to have streamlined reports for state and federal government. Currently, a few of the queries and reports do not provide all the information required of the student. This checklist assignment will automatically assign documents needed from the student and make them immediately viewable through their To Do list in their Student Center. This is an enhancement to our current process.

Veterans Benefits – This project will identify ways in which we can better identify and track veteran students within PeopleSoft. Staff will be able to provide more complete responses to veteran inquiries. We will be able to track the required data for both federal certifying and state remission. This should result in faster turnaround time for students to receive their veterans benefits. The goal is to develop the specifications with rollout in the next version of PeopleSoft.

The financial aid process is complex and challenging for most of our students and their parents. The Financial Aid team is committed to continually making this process easier and more streamlined. After all, if students have more time to focus on their learning and less on administrative processes we all win!

Questions?
For more information on these projects feel free to contact dwalleser[at] matcmadison [dot] edu (Diane Walleser), STEPS program director; jlhoege[at] matcmadison [dot] edu (Jennifer Hoege), STEPS business owner or mforbes[at] matcmadison [dot] edu (Marcia Forbes), STEPS team lead.