Staff Training on a Tight Budget Elizabeth Minard, Assistant Director Financial Aid, UNI Chris Bowser, Executive Dean, Student Services, IHCC

Training with other offices Attending other offices and their staff meetings Office of Admission staff meetings Business Operation Meetings At UNI, Focus meeting Representatives from Study Abroad Office, Department of Residence, Business Office, Registrar’s Office, attend. Once a month Agenda is provided

Training within the office Cluster meeting Weekly meeting with weekly training topics depending on the time of the year Processing, loans, scholarships, customer service, outreach Give up dates/information

Training within the office, continued.. Staff Meeting Led by our director Weekly meetings Updates from meetings they have been at, upcoming events, deadlines Other areas from campus

Training within the office, continued.. Customer Service Area Weekly meetings with Student Advisors Weekly meetings with Peer Counselors Facilitate trainings on FA topics and provide staff updates.

New staff in the office General overview of FA with supervisor Staff meets with each individual area i.e. loans, scholarships, processing Staff member meets again with each area 3 months later

Training outside the office Local conferences IASFAA, MASFAA, NASFAA, FSA Depending on the year/updates, certain key staff attends Presenting at conferences so fee can be waived Conference scholarship conferences

Training in One Stop Environment Choose services that One Stop team will be able to provide Define % of questions to handle Establish point when One Stop team involves a subject matter expert Keep student at desk, we search for answer No blind transfers One Stop team answers questions with the exception of elevated student concerns

Training in One Stop Environment Tour all of the student services offices that the One Stop serves Develop Training Schedule – set expectations Training should include getting to know the people behind the processes Training should also include the philosophy behind the One Stop structure

Keys to Success All staff have a clear vision of what a team member needs in order to be successful Phased trainings that include onboarding process, refresher trainings, timely updates and allow for a process to clarify processes

One Stop Training Phases Onboarding – phased training approach that includes Classroom sessions – multiple trainers One Stop philosophy session Student Information System/Document Imaging training Website trainings – FAA, COD, FSA ID, FAFSA Phone training, e-mail training, and finally face to face shadowing Taking students, with a shadow Ultimately working on own to deliver service to students

One Stop Training Phases Timely Updates Sessions that focus on the common questions that take place during a given time of the year Sessions should provide answers to the common questions Sessions should also provide information into how the answers impact students prepare for follow-up questions Think of answering questions like the alphabet

One Stop Training Phases Refresher Trainings Sessions that keep everyone on the same page for processes that are more difficult and subject to change Sessions should provide answers to the common questions Sessions should allow staff to discuss what they are hearing from students Sessions broadcast/recorded in Collaborate

One Stop Training Phases Clarification Process Our One Stop team sends an e-mail each week on questions they received from students where they would like clarification from staff Perhaps they received information perceived to be slightly different from multiple subject matter experts We discuss and reply to all student services staff involved in the process

Customer Service Customer service training is a part of the process as well We have a session on service expectations We also purchased “Smile & Move” from Sam Parker www.givemore.com

Professional Development IASFAA Institute for Student Services Professionals (ISSP) Iowa Community College Student Services Association

Questions???