GETTING FINANCIAL AID ONLINE Meet the demands of your technologically driven students! Daniel Holt William Jewell College

What are the goals of the online process?  Expedite applications and give students more time to make choices about the transition from high school to college  Decrease application mistakes  Expedite the review and processing of Web-based forms  Save materials  Postage and processing costs

Goals Financial aid administrators should consider their potential to lighten some of their load while increasing service to students.

Current Methods  Send an  Do students check their ?  Campus Mail  Do students know they have a campus mailbox, much less where it’s at?  Home Mail  Does the student open the mail?

Answers to previous slide NO

Students lack FA knowledge  How to check on the status of their financial aid applications, scholarship applications, and financial aid offers  The need to check for information regarding application mistakes and approvals  The importance of activating individual student information portals in a timely manner, to allow access to time-sensitive information. Students are unaware of the need to frequently check their e- mail accounts and fall behind in the financial aid process.

What are some things to consider?  Online applications (admission and financial aid)  Online financial aid awards  Online communication management  Including printable documents  Online student accounts  Online bill pay

Vendor solutions  TG  AdvanTG Web  Application Printing & Processing Services  MOHELA  WebConnect  LoanConnect  Form Connect  Award Connect  Sallie Mae  Campus Gateway  YEA  Electronic Bill & Payment  Online Payment

But, don’t forget about…  Blogs  Discussion Boards  Instant Messaging  Text Messaging  Chat Rooms  Facebook – really! Online design, operations, and marketing activities should be aimed at both parents and students.

Types of communication being used by schools  60% Webinars  47% IM  31% Chat rooms  13% Text Messaging Survey conducted by NASFAA in 2006

Where to Start  The URL (keep it simple)   WJC’s old URL  d_jewell_generated_pages/Financial_AidScholarships_ m13.html d_jewell_generated_pages/Financial_AidScholarships_ m13.html  Which would you rather type?  Which would your rather tell a student to type over the phone?

What is the most important information that your students need?  That is the information that should appear first on your site.  Provide quick links. Don’t require a student or parent to click through numerous pages to get to the things they need.  The most important information isn’t the same year around. Make changes, updates, and notify of deadlines.

My Jewell

Document Retrieval

Student Access

Accepting Financial Aid

Keep applicants notified

Employee Access?

Communication Methods  Asynchronous - Communications that don’t take place at the same time   Blogs  Discussion boards  Synchronous – Real- time communications  IM  TM  Chat rooms  Webinars

Blogs  Web logs – or Blogs – are growing in popularity.  Admissions directors blog to high school students a behind-the- scenes look at office hopes and demystify the process  Financial aid directors blog for prospective and current students to help make the financial aid process less intimidating and to show the sincere and caring side to the financial aid office.  Blogs are less formal, focus on anecdotal experiences or thoughts on policies, common questions, or timely issues.  Allow public user feedback and interaction  Blogger.com

Discussion Boards  Discussion boards allow a financial aid office to view, assess, and engage in discussion with students  Allow students to air their grievances and then get the facts about financial aid from authorized members of the FA office who participate in the discussions.

Instant Messaging (IM)  Real-time communications that permit individuals to conduct private conversations with each other using type-in, written messages.  Commercial online services  AIM by AOL  Yahoo Messenger  MSN Chat  Great for office communication – No more yelling down the hall!

More on IM in the office  University of Alaska Anchorage uses IM on a secure university IM system to communicate within financial aid, admissions, recruitment, registration, and records.  UAA used AIM but switched to something more secure.

Text Messaging  Mobile devices (cell phones)  Alert messages  In the wake of the Virginia Tech incident schools have created alert messages to notify all students immediately.  WJC Office of Student Affairs has begun to use text as a form of communication, replacing .  WJC also has alert messages for inclement weather and crisis situations

Web 2.0  Constantly adapting, student’s in driver’s seat  Tagging allows users to come up with their own categories for material and then site automatically organizes and reorganizes that material  Best on Q&A page or discussion board  Really Simple Syndication (RSS) allows users to subscribe to an actual Web page, so that when content on that page is changed, RSS subscribers are notified.  Everything from updated assignments to changes in financial aid policies.  On agenda at 2008 FSA Conferences

When it doubt… Google it  Google Calendar  Google Documents  Gmail  Google Talk (IM)

Facebook Why the students use is it  Contact Friends  Promote parties / events / fundraisers  To waste time How FA could use it  Contact students  Promote scholarships / deadlines / events  Make a FA Group, that’s more casual / more approachable

Other school web portals

Things to consider  The availability of IT support at your institution  Your organization’s experience and expertise with Web technologies  The degree to which collaboration is considered important in enhancing communication among staff and colleagues  The extent to which synchronous communications will be valued by students and parents  Your budget for IT services