Best Practices in Servicing to International Students Susan Forman, University of Tennessee-Knoxville Sharon Butler, peer Transfer Ray Kopitsch, Cedar Financial

International Students: Spending over $20B Annually in the US! Over 750,000 international students send $12B every year to the US to pay for education* Growing nationwide at a rate of 5.7% Many pay in full – 64% from personal/family sources Bring in another $8B for living expenses Pay in a variety of ways 3rd party Cash Credit Cards U.S. accounts International wire *According to Open Doors 2012 data

The peerTransfer Solution: Iker’s Story Student from Spain going to Massachusetts Institute of Technology Wired $50,000 from home country that the Business Office couldn’t identify – where is my money? Lost $1,000 in the currency exchange process There has to be a better way!

Picture Yourself Studying in a Foreign Country…and These are Your Options:

A Look at the True Costs for International Students

What Can You do to Help Your International Students? Make their payment process easy and inexpensive – keep them happy! Streamlined processing and posting gives them peace of mind 24/7, multilingual customer support is an asset to your international student Allows them to do business during their country’s banking hours Walk them through the process in their native launguage Multi-channels for support matters (Skype, live chat, email, phone) Reduce inbound calls and emails for your staff

Today peerTransfer is Helping International Students at over 250 Schools

International Payments aren’t Easy for Schools Either

Challenges with International Payments Publicly disbursing banking and routing information Unidentified payments Short balance payments Missing payments Time spent fielding phone calls/emails

CHALLENGE: Publicly disbursing banking and routing information SOLUTION: Student sends funds to peerTransfer Student will receive bank instructions in order to make the wire transfer in person, online or over the phone

CHALLENGE: Unidentified payments SOLUTION: Captures key student identifiers Flexible System allows you to collect the identifiers you need for any international payment!

CHALLENGE: Short balance payments SOLUTION: Specifies the exact amount the student needs to send peerTransfer also eliminates the intermediary bank fees taken out of the payment during the transfer process

CHALLENGE: Missing payments SOLUTION: Track the payment throughout the transfer process Ddashboard.peertransfer.com

CHALLENGE: Time spent fielding phone calls/emails SOLUTION: peerTransfer’s 24x7 multilingual customer support Multi-lingual support helps guide students and parents through the payment process

Servicing The International Student After Leaving School Cedar Financial a TCM Group Company

Understanding the International Student International Students Returning Home Open Doors 2012 data

Understanding the International Student Primary Sources of Funding Open Doors 2012 data

Understanding the International Student International Students: Fields of Study Open Doors 2012 data

Challenges & Threats Do not focus or segment the international student collection process Communication barriers Limited resources to locate Limited knowledge of local environment (socioeconomics, religion, culture, political, etc.) Lack Ability to work around differing time zones

Challenges & Threats DO NOT ADHERE TO LOCAL COMPLIANCE Traditional agencies using in house or just call centers contacting students overseas. Working with many agencies overseas in individual countries. Doing nothing to cure intl. student debt.

Current Model Solutions Build the working relationship between the Bursars Office and the International Student Office (ISO). Intake of the international students & segmentation. Information is crucial for recovery. I-20 Form SEVIS Form Very Important to abide by local laws and customs

Questions & Answers