Maryland Higher Education Commission Office of Student Financial Assistance Pete Tyrrell, Director Office of Student Financial Assistance Fall Conference November 13, 2013

Maryland Higher Education Commission Office of Student Financial Assistance Agenda  OSFA Update  Operational Improvements  Operational Goals for 2014  Awarding  Focusing on 14  Questions and Answers

Maryland Higher Education Commission Office of Student Financial Assistance Staffing Changes in OSFA  All new management team – Donna Thomas and Terica Prater.  Working to fill 2 key vacancies – Program Supervisor and Program Manager.  Departure of 2 Program Administrators.  Addition of a PIN position.  Utilization of FWS students.

Maryland Higher Education Commission Office of Student Financial Assistance Operational Improvements and Successes  Eliminated teleworking and established core business hours.  Implemented an ACD system to improve services to students and their families.  Collaborated with University of Baltimore to employ Federal Work Study students to assist with operational functions (calls and s).  Made changes to the verification process for GA Grant recipients to maximize program costs savings with limited resources.  Creation of a mailbox for our school business partners,

Maryland Higher Education Commission Office of Student Financial Assistance  Expand employment of FWS students during peak periods.  Establish internal Service Level Objectives to improve services to both students and schools.  Review program guidelines/develop program regulations.  Review and enhance the agency website to improve it as a resource.  Enhance our ACD system to include self-service functionality.  Make a case for a Document Management/Imaging System. Operational Goals for 2014

Maryland Higher Education Commission Office of Student Financial Assistance Educational Assistance Grant  Made initial awards totaling more than $150 million; initial EFC was $2164.  Eliminated the written appeal process for those awards cancelled due to students’ failure to accept the award.  More than 1,400 cancelled awards have been reinstated over the past 2 weeks.  As of November 7 th, only $63.7 million certified.  Waitlist – in the process of making additional awards to students on the waitlist.  NBSFAF – November 7 th, balance stood at about $17 million.  Will be awarding students on the waitlist within the next week or so Awarding

Maryland Higher Education Commission Office of Student Financial Assistance  Lack of a supplemental application process requires that we make certain assumptions.  Approach to awarding causing an over-commitment of funds, both in terms of awards and those applicants that appear on the waitlist.  Lack of awareness of students that they are being considered for an EA Program award.  Waitlist – given cyclical nature of financial aid limits OSFA’s ability to make additional awards until after the Fall semester has begun (which can frequently be too late). Challenges Related to EA Program Awarding

Maryland Higher Education Commission Office of Student Financial Assistance  During the awarding period, need to work with schools to make waitlist determinations earlier (end of September/beginning of October).  Continue to waive the written appeal requirement for cancelled awards and work with schools to identify those eligible students on campus that simply failed to accept the award during the Summer.  Develop an on-line EA Program application process via MD CAPS beginning with the awarding period (application period beginning January, 2015).  Examine how we define the waitlist – currently there is no EFC cap. Addressing the Challenges to EA Awarding

Maryland Higher Education Commission Office of Student Financial Assistance  Website is currently be reviewed and program-specific information will be updated around the first of the year.  Also looking to enhance the user experience on the website.  Putting final touches on FAO Manual – training opportunities to be announced.  Addressing the audit findings published by DLA.  We will be reconvening the Financial Aid Advisory Committee.  Rebuild our relationships with and improve the services we provide to schools. Focusing on 14

Maryland Higher Education Commission Office of Student Financial Assistance  Legislative session begins mid-January.  Improve communications regarding the session outcome/impact.  Strengthening the EOY reconciliation process/Improving reporting requirements.  Improve and increase training opportunities for schools.  Improve succession planning internally.  Development of a formal training program internally. Focusing on 14 - continued

Maryland Higher Education Commission Office of Student Financial Assistance Pete Tyrrell Director, OSFA Contact Information

Maryland Higher Education Commission Office of Student Financial Assistance Questions and Answers