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

2. 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

3. 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!

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

5. A Look at the True Costs for International Students

6. 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, , phone)
Reduce inbound calls and s for your staff

7. Today peerTransfer is Helping International Students at over 250 Schools

8. International Payments aren’t Easy for Schools Either

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

10. 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

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

12. 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

19. 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

20. 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.

21. 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

22. Questions & Answers