Building Financial Aid’s Digital-first Future

In an increasingly digital-dependent world, why are financial aid offices still pushing paper? Higher ed leaders know that without ongoing modernization, institutions get left behind. But upgrading and implementing technology is easier said than done, particularly when paper-based processes are ingrained in financial aid offices.

With the right partner, however, institutions can clear barriers to ongoing success—and smooth the path for enrollment and retention at the same time.

In a recent panel, higher ed technology leaders Stephen Fahey, director of financial aid at Citrus College and Wendy Kattelman, financial aid manager at Western Governors University, came together to share their experience implementing technology to simplify and digitize financial aid paperwork and processes.

New Efficiencies Benefit Staff and Students Alike

At Citrus College, a member of the California Community College system, approximately 60 to 70% of students receive some form of financial aid. That’s a lot of paperwork to process, especially when it was, quite literally, “all paper, paper, paper,” as Fahey describes. Before acquiring the right system to digitize and streamline, Citrus College staff had to print and scan every document for each student, and that was only after getting the students to come into the office in the first place.

Western Governors University (WGU) faced a similar situation, but with the added challenge of being one of the largest online institutions. Chasing students down for information wasn’t easy. “It was a tedious, long process,” says Kattelman, describing how WGU staff had to manually pull reports to determine who had been selected for verification.

Even as an online institution, WGU’s digital processes didn’t hold up without the right tools for efficiency. That all changed when WGU implemented a new tool for financial aid processes. “It’s made a huge improvement,” Kattelman says. Staff can now easily direct students to where they need to upload their documents, eliminating the need to match emails, physical mail, and even faxes to each aid recipient.

High-value Financial Aid Advising

After implementing the same system, Citrus College experienced similar results to WGU, helping the financial aid office more effectively serve its students. “From the staff side, it’s been night and day,” says Fahey.

While any technology implementation introduces a learning curve for users who are used to the usual ways of doing things, Citrus College staff quickly came around. “This has been the only product implementation where the staff adopted it happily and without resistance. They immediately saw the benefit of this transition,” Fahey says. “It’s given them more confidence.” Because their technology made financial aid processes more transparent, it’s easier to catch and resolve discrepancies early, and staff can better explain to students what types of information are needed for verification and why.

“It’s freed us up to do the biggest thing: We have more time to spend with our students,” Fahey says. Since implementation, Citrus College has reclaimed enough staff time to triple the number of financial aid workshops offered to the campus. “We can now have more purposeful, detailed conversations with students, as opposed to those peak times when it had to be more transactional,” Fahey says. “We have a lot more space now to listen to students and help them navigate the complex parts of the process.”

Making Verification Clear and Secure

Before implementation, WGU students might have to go back and forth with staff for weeks to collect all the necessary information. “You could hear and see the frustration in students over what they needed to provide,” Kattelman says. This was particularly true when certain methods of sending documents such as faxing or snail mail simply never reached their destination.

Students could scan their documents, but that created new security risks. “We had to be very careful with email because we have to protect the students’ privacy,” Kattelman says. “You’re dealing with taxes, social security cards, citizen documents, so many types of personal identification information. That was a challenge. How do we secure students’ privacy as their documents are being submitted?”

With WGU’s new system, those worries are a thing of the past. The user interface automatically gives the students guidance to complete their tasks with clear reasons for why specific pieces of information are needed—all with the confidence that their documents are secure and accounted for.

“It’s made a huge improvement in helping students understand what is required,” Kattelman says. “We’re not rejecting as many documents and we’re not missing as many things. The process no longer holds students back from starting school or prevents them from getting the aid that they need.”

A Simplified, Convenient Student Experience

For Citrus College, which previously required students to come in person to complete verification, process-streamlining technology has eliminated the long lines that used to bottleneck at the beginning of each term. “In the past, we were somewhat over-verifying students,” Fahey says. “[Our new technology] has done an amazing job at asking for just what is needed and nothing more. Which makes the students happy, but it also makes us happy.”

Fall semester aid notifications that used to go out in June or July can now be completed as early as January. And because students receive automatic notifications via email and text, verification processes can begin right away, keeping delays from negatively impacting enrollment or retention.

Now, Citrus College has a no-paper policy. Most students easily complete their verification on their phones, and those that come into the office can use an iPad station to get in and out. “It’s been an amazing process,” Fahey says. “The students see immediate results and can confirm exactly where they are in the verification process.”

Future-ready Financial Aid

For Citrus College and West Governors University, eliminating paper-based processes cleared the road for ongoing success. With new efficiencies, staff can spend less time chasing down information to focus more on providing high-value support. And with clear guidance on what documentation is needed and how to submit it, students don’t have to worry about completing verification in time to get the financial aid they need to enroll and stay on track.

Watch the webinar.