STUDENT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

Mission Statement: The Office of Student Financial Aid will strive to make a significant and positive difference in the lives of students through quality customer service that meets their educational needs while serving UAA, through the efficient and timely processing and delivery of financial aid. 

SUMMARY OF PROCESS

Create “buy-in” Involved all FinAid staff members Formal brainstorming session

Establish teamSonya Fisher, Student Financial AssistanceDanny Elmore, Student Financial Assistance

*team leaderAnnMarie Moquete, Student Financial Assistance (VA)Leslie Helm, Student Financial AssistanceJoseph Posey, Student Financial Assistance (Student)Casey Jones, Native Student ServicesShirley Willis-Haslip, SOE

SUMMARY OF PROCESS

Initial Meeting Team member introductions Establish team roles (leadership, admin support,

etc…) Establish team ground rules Initial discussion of CAS standards and guidelines Establish inter-rater reliability

6 week schedule Monday/Tuesday- FA staff would load documents

(Blackboard) Wednesday/Thursday- Team members review docs Friday- met for 2+ hours

STRENGHTS The program has very effectively self-service model

that provides the tools students need to manage their financial aid and enrollment.

The program promotes and provides equal access to eligible students

Program leadership is highly qualified based on education, experience, competence, and professional credentials, and supervises, instructs, and coordinates the Financial Aid staff very effectively

The formal system of staff evaluation is thorough, consistent, and well-managed

The program effectively promotes professional development by providing staff members with continuing education opportunities including in-service training and professional conferences and workshops

OPPORTUNTIES The most frequently identified and significant

opportunity for improvement is the need to identify Key Process Indicators (KPI’s) in accordance with the CAS criteria, and to develop the procedures by which to formally track and document process performance

The mission statement needs to be revised to more specifically address the elements of awarding practices and goal integration

Need to formally develop student learning and development outcomes that are purposeful and holistic, and to measure student achievement of these outcomes

Need to define and formalize external relationships and related communications, and establish procedures for documenting these

SURPRISES

CAS standards for financial aid have not been updated since 1990’s- don’t even exist in Volume 7.

Student Learning Outcomes are useful, important and relevant! Independence

Examples of achievement indicators: Identifies and utilizes financial aid online self-service tools (federal, state, institutional); Meets designated deadlines for submitting applications, appeals, paperwork and forms.

Spiritual AwarenessExamples of achievement indicators: Is aware of one’s own personal values and how they should affect levels of student borrowing and eligibility.

FUTURE

Creating a culture of assessment (taking what we already do and making it systematic) What are we trying to do and why? What is our office supposed to accomplish? What do I want students or staff to be able to do

and/or know as a result of our program (Student Learning)

What is the level of satisfaction we want to see from the service we provide? (Operational)

How well are we doing it? How do we use the information to improve or

celebrate success? Do the improvements we make contribute to our

intended end results

FUTURE

Clearly develop goals- operational, student learning or bothEx. Enhance educational opportunities to promote accountability concerning rights, responsibilities, and eligibility for financial aid to help students graduate on time and be better consumers.

Develop Operational Outcomes to support our goalsOutcome= Reduce number of students terminated from financial aid (SAP)Success criterion= Reduction of 5% by 2015Outcome= Students will have enough student loans to borrow throughout their time at UAASuccess criterion= 3% reduction in students who reach their aggregate student loan limit prior to graduation