In reference to the 48 hour rule
In regard to "After the Admissions Department has qualified the prospect and laid out a program of interest, the next step is to get the prospect in front of your Financial Aid Officer within 48 hours." , at what point would you consider a student "qualified"? Our Registrar gets many students asking for a financial plan before they even complete an application to determine if they will eligible for financial aide and therefore worthwhile for them to apply? Is requesting a full application before forwarding information to the financial office considered proper customer service?
Talia,
This is a very personal decision for each college team. In my opinion the team of Admissions, Academics and Financial Aid have to be in an agreement on the definition of "qualified." Also, that definition may have some sway room due to prospective students not coming in a "one size fits all." When I managed a financial aid team at the college level we wanted students to have made a decision on their program of study, be enrolled, have time to step back and consider their decision and then come to financial aid for determination of aid; however, there were times that a prospective student needed to know could they afford their education and we always accomodated those individual. The goal is for the college to understand the needs of their prospective students and set reasonable expectation.
Sincerely, Chyrl
Chyrl Ayers
Thank you Chyrl,
From what I understand, creating a protocol of what a qualified is, but being flexible to accommodate those students who need advice from the financial office in advance would be the best customer service the college could supply.
Talia,
I understand your thoughts and agree. It would be great if the one size fits all approach worked; however, real customer service success comes from adapting to meet the individual needs of your students. As long as you keep your students out in front you should have success.
Best wishes as you continue your journey in the care of students.
Sincerely, Chyrl
Chyrl Ayers
I think this would depend on the school. Personally I would rather complete a students FA package to make sure they are able to afford coming to our school. This may be going above and beyond for a student but I would rather do this then have a student enroll and realize they are unable to attend due to their finances and have to drop out half way through. We try to do whatever we can for the student by making this process as easy as possible
Talia,
We have a very structured process at our college. The 48 hour rule works well for us. For students who have transfer credits they need to have more than 1 Financial Aid appointment to finalize and approve their awards. The process requires that all students receive an overview on their first visit at the campus and their workshop/2nd financial aid appointment is scheduled within 48 hours from that day. I have been in the same field for over 10 years and practicing this rule has helped us maintain a high packaging and show rate of every start continuously.
Thank you,
Romina Kraja
Business Operations Manager
Sanford-Brown College, Jacksonville, FL
