Financial Aid Reporting
How beneficial is reporting to you as it relates to meeting your students' needs? Please explain your position.
Much of the reporting that needs to be done for my school is done by the business office or our third-party servicer. The reports that I monitor are the FISAP and double checking the student ledgers. I feel that reporting is very important and helps me to keep organized for all students in order to give them accurate and timely answers to questions about their aid package or to let them know when and if they have a credit balance. In many ways I'm happy that all this reporting needs to be done as it makes us accountable.
Kristen,
Your attitude toward your responsibilities is very refreshing. It is important that we monitor and ensure that our reporting and documentation is accurate - this is another level of service to students. If there is an issue with a student's account the negative impact will be felt by the student. I have enjoyed your participation in these forums.
Best wishes to you and your continued onlune education endeavors.
Sincerely, Chyrl
I personally don't have anything to do with the reports. Eventually I will be taking that aspect over and will have to learn how to use them. I am sure that they help us keep our records correct and catch any errors we might have in a timely manner
Janet.
It has been my experience that reporting can be a great tool as long as it is set up in a way to measure your key performance indicators (KPI). However, reporting has to be reviewed periodically to determine the effectiveness of the reporting.
Have a good afternoon.
Sincerely, Chyrl
Reporting is a necessary part of the overall process. It helps to assure the processes are being done correctly. This allows errors or incorrect actions to be identified and corrected in a timely manner.
Lisa,
Identifying errors and getting this corected timely is critical for maintaining compliance in financial aid report. Do you have Standard Operating Procedures (SOP's) that allow you to inspect and determine if any errors have occurred? SOP's are a great way to outline your review and determination of error process as it relates to reporting.
Sincerely,
Chyrl
All of our reporting goes through our headquarters. We are given thorough reports to assist us in knowing where students are regarding credit status, when they need to be repacked and any other finance areas that may affect student funds.
Joan,
Based on your response related to reporting it appears that your campus and headquarters have sufficient measures to insure timely processing for your students.
Best wishes in your online education process related to financial aid.
Sincerely,
Chyrl
Even though I'm not a direct part of the reporting process, I still wanted a better understanding of the processes associated with Financial Aid. This course has shed valuable light on the reporting aspect.
Catherine
I am glad you found the module to be beneficial to you. Hoepfully, the module provided you with insight into the reporting process.
Sincerely, Chyrl
Hi Chyrl,
I am not in-charge of our school's reporting at the moment :)
Merilyn
I'm not sure how much of this affects me. I know that I am in charge of the ECAR and PPA, but I assume that my business office and 3rd party servicer does most of the work. I prepare IPED reports, but other than that I don't even know what reports there are. Am I missing something or am I just not coallating things correctly in my head?
Jane,
Your business office or third party servicer probably takes care of the reporting functions (such as FISAP and other reconciliation requirements related to direct loan processing); however, I would encourage you to follow up with your team to see what reporting requirements are out there. It is important that you have an understanding of these requirements.
Continued success to you in your education career related to TIV processing.
Sincerely, Chyrl
For me it is very important to know the needs of our students and find ways to meet
Nydia,
It is important to understand your student population and have the best methods in approaching and fulfilling their requirements. Also, you will probably have to review and fine-tune these over the course of the process. Do you have any unique methods that you would share with the group reviewing the post? Your approaches could be beneficial to the community.
Sincerely,
Chyrl
I think that the need for reporting can be compared to Alice in Wonderland. She asked the caterpillar in which direction she should go. He asked her where she wanted to get to and she said it didn't matter. He then said, "Well, then it doesn't matter in which direction you go."
What that illustrates is that you must have goals in mind in order for reporting to be meaningful. Otherwise, you're just regurgitating information.
What are your goals? In the financial aid office, we definitely want accuracy and fiscal integrity. Are your reports keeping you accurate (remember our discussion on those pesky program reviews)? Are they able to flush out errors in your process flows? Do they help you with your daily/weekly/monthly reconciliation efforts?
If the answer to the above is "No," then perhaps the reports should be discontinued or reconfigured so that they will be meaningful. Ask yourself, "What's the worse that could happen if this report were discontinued?" If it's inconsequential, consider revising or eliminating.
On the other hand, there are reports, such as the FISAP, that not only give you a snapshot of your annual activity, but also assure continued, uninterrupted participation in the program. Useful and necessary; a keeper (not that you have a choice . . .).
Bottom line, reporting is critical but only if it provides value to the organization. After all, haven't we slaughtered enough trees?
Carmen
Your comments are points that should be considered by all when approaching the topic of reporting and reports. Your overall feedback has been enlightening to the FA Online Educational process.
Have a great day.
Chyrl
I believe reporting is beneficial because it allows us to truly track our records and maintaining our students' needs. It can definitely organize the school better and allow us to keep an eye out for any problems that may occur within the month.
Avoiding mistakes on our part will make everyone's life easier.
