Compressing processing timeline any suggestions?
The school I work for is a 10-month program and we only start one class each September. We also have rolling admissions, so it is very common for a student to apply and be accepted in October then wait to start in September the following year. Typically, a student is given two weeks to apply after they completed their admissions interview, then within a week of their acceptance I call them to do an initial FA overview to discuss the FAFSA and other funding options. From this point forward either myself or someone in the FA office follows up with that student every 2-3 wks until their FAFSA is complete. Once that occurs we package the students Federal Aid and budget with the student for needs on living expenses and discuss alternative loans, because the Federal Aid is typically not enough to cover their needs. Once a student is approved a loan we complete their FA package.
Would it be wise for us to compress our processing timeline in Financial Aid and if so do you have any suggestions? We have discussed the advantages and disadvantages of our current process internally, and feel it is best to spread it out in order to have a reason to contact the student over the 6-9 months they wait to start our program. However, we are open to suggestions.
Kristen,
Wow. I agree with you that the constant contact is beneficial due to the long period of time between enrolling and starting. I think it is very important to keep prosepective students interested and involved in the process. Have you ever considered compressing the FA timeframes but creating other types of contacts during the cycle between enrollment and actual class attendance? Maybe some type of customer service feel good contacts not necessarily centered around aid processing - customer service feedback surveys, interactions on the students interests or expecations.
My instincts lead me to believe that compressing the cycle may not be the best approach but it would drive me nuts not having the FA paperwork completed immediately. Also, if a student enrolls before January you do not have access to the FAFSA for the correct award year until after January 1st so what do you do with them between October and January. This is the most interesting set up I have heard of in years.
If you don't mind me asking what is your 10-month program. It must be great to hold prospective students attention for almost a year.
Sincerely, Chyrl
Thank you for the suggestions. Our program is for professional photography.
Kristen,
That sounds like a fascinating program. I understand why students are willing to wait for up to 10 months. I appreciate you sharing this.
Chyrl
Amazing! I guess my first question would be what percentage of your potential students slip through the cracks due to the strenuous waiting period? Currently where I am at we have Module starts every 5 weeks and we lose about 10-15%, I can only imagine the numbers that you're faced with.
I guess one solution to your problem would be to base your title IV funding off of a borrower based academic year and increase your start dates. It would actually solve two issues first being the ability to accept a student on a Monday and start them on the following Tuesday and secondly provide them with full funding.
