Tammy,
Many times associates fail to fully understand their role and duties in their position. This creates confusion and controversy especially when the boundaries are crossed.
Cindy Bryant
There is an inherent element of conflict. If you were to meld the two roles into one position, the drive for economic success may become to strong which would lead to unethical behaviors.
Separation of duty is important as a security protocol. With the primary objective of prevention of fraud and error. This principle is demonstrated in the Admissions/Financial Aid split by disseminating the tasks of enrollment and the awarding of Financial Aid. Should one person be able to both enroll and award monies, then the strict rules which play into the awarding of aid may become compromised by the enrollment goals. Therefore, it is important to differentiate both the job titles and responsibilities.
It's important that Admissions representatives talk to prospective students only about the school and programs offered. Of course, this information must be presented clearly, accurately and honestly.
But Admissions personnel must steer clear of any discussion about financing the applicant's education. This will avoid even the mere appearance that the Admissions staff exerted any kind of influence over an applicant's decision about enrolling from a financial perspective.
As a Financial Aid Assistant Advisor, I always ask the Admissions Rep. if a student has an admissions question. I am not in that department, I should not and do not answer those questions. I expect the same from the admissions team. Admissions and FA are both intricate, important parts of a students education. We work together, while staying separate.
I believe it is a conflict of interest to have admissions talking about enrollment and finance. I am sure that there are strict reasons and events that cause the two roles to be separate. Admissions is more a guiding and assistance role where as FA deals more with the accounting and regulations of financial responsibility.
the separation is important and necessary because for the two to cross would create a conflict of interest, one is promotional and the other needs to work within the expertise and regulations of the department of education.
It is the responsiblity of the Admissions representative to discuss programs, admissions requirements whereas the financial aid representative needs to be an expert in the area of financial aid. Admissions personnel cannot give advice or counsel students about financial aid.
It is important to separate certain duties between Admissions and Financial Aid in order to remain compliant, abide by regulations and be transparent. Admissions is often viewed has promotional/sales from students and the public, and any information we provide about financial aid and government funding could be viewed as enticing, using federal aid to bring in students. Our school could get into major legal trouble if Admissions provided detailed assistance and/or used financial aid information to use as a promotional recruiting tool.
It's really important that we go the person who specializes in their area. For example if I have a problem with my foot it won't help me much to go to a Dermatologist. I want the foot specialist. The same goes for Financial Aid & Admissions.
I really like the way your worded your response. That's exactly the goal. If each department has a clear understanding of their goals what a difference it makes.
Admissions and Financial Aid Offices have different Objectives:
1-Admissions personnel can best assist in helping and directing students to courses that lead to a career that they are best suited and qualified for based on their background, desires and aspirations.
2-Financial Aid personnel can best assist with their financial resources based on their need, qualifications, ability to repay etc.
Admissions should never discuss monetary responsibilities because it makes the school look like we are just trying to get students in the door.
Admissions is responsible to close the sale, so to speak, once a prospective student has made the decision to enroll. Financial aid cannot be a part of that process. You cannot use financial aid as a selling point for the school.
Admissions and Financial Aid duties must be separated, for each has specific regulations that it must abide by. For an Admissions employee to discuss financial aid requirements or eligibility, without full knowledge of what can and can not be said or inferred, wrong information or improper conduct by that Admissions employee may result, and whether or not it was inadvertent or intentional, it could result in an institution being penalized. The duties of each (Admissions & FA) should be fulfilled respectively by each and any questions or concerns pertaining the other department should be deferred accordingly.
Each students financial aid dependancy will be different. The admissions advisor should not discuss this as they are not fully trained and may give false information.
Because it has been proven there is definite conflict of interest in and Admissions Rep handling financial aid. Since the Admissions Rep is held to a goal, if they are not making it or they are trying to up their enrollments for promotion, they are more apt to help a prospective student fudge their FAFSA. Since a Financial Aid Rep is not under a goal they don't have that same pressure and are more likely to be neutral and do the right thing.
An Admissions Rep must only provide information that pertains to his/her role at the college. It is very important not to provide information on FA since this is not their are of expertise. FA information should be discussed only from the FA advisor since this is his/her area.
it is there b/c admissions job is to enroll students. Without students there is no school. since the jobs are separated there is no incentive to tell students any misleading information to get them to attend. This keeps admission and FA honest.
Admissions are responsible for accurate information on the schools programs to be reflected to the student. Financial Aid has the responsibility to accurately prepare the prospective student a financial package that would off set the cost of the investment. They are not prepared or qualified to discuss in detail the program or the prospective students choice of desired program.
Admissions shows the potential student about the school and narrows it down to see if this is a right fit for them, financial aid is a critical department that can possibly make or break a potential student with financial information and how it is presented.
