# Presentation: 315343

## Schools Best Electronic Practices

- Pueblo Community College
- Audrey Osswald
- Director of Financial Aid

## Pueblo Community College

- Public, 2 year college in southeastern Colorado
- Main campus and several additional sites up to 300 miles away
- Approximately 4,000 aid applicants
- Approximately 3,000 on financial aid including federal, state and institutional
- Verify selected applications only

## PCC Financial Aid Staff

- Director
- Assistant Director
- Financial Aid Advisor
- Three clerical staff

## Financial Aid Programs

- Federal
- Pell Grant
- FSEOG
- Work Study
- FFEL Loan Program
- State
- Grant
- Merit
- Work Study

- Institutional
- Scholarships
- Grants
- College Foundation
- Scholarships
- Total of 28 Funds

## Financial Aid Dollars

- Grants
- $3.8 Million in Pell
- $1.3 Million in State Grants
- Work Study
- $168,000 Federal
- $463,000 State
- Merit
- $400,000 State and Institutional
- Loans
- $1.8 Million Subsidized
- $1.0 Million in unsubsidized or PLUS

## Where to Start

- Integrated Student Information System
- Admissions and Records
- Enrollment
- Grades including withdraws
- Start and end dates of terms
- High school diploma, GED or ATB
- Instate Residency
- Remedial courses
- Eligible programs

- Integrated Student Information System
- Fiscal Operations
- Tuition and fees
- Bookstore and other charges
- Moving financial aid funds from awarding to disbursement
- Fund reconciliation
- Reporting

## What is Next?

- Automated awarding
- Pell Grant
- Student eligibility
- Cost of Attendance
- Pell Chart
- Enrollment

- Automated Awarding
- Campus based, state and institutional funds
- Based on packaging policy
- Work is up front in setting up parameters
- Advantages
- Efficient
- Accurate
- Consistent
- Non-judgmental

- Electronic Data Exchange (Edconnect)
- Receive ISIRs; send and receive corrections
- RFMS for Pell Grant
- FISAP filing

- Electronic Loan Process
- Loan application and certification to lender and guarantor via file transfer protocol (ftp)
- Enter data only once on college’s computer system
- Demographic data originates from college admission file
- Edits built in for accuracy

- Electronic Loan Process
- Changes to the loan application can be done by the college on secure web site
- Guaranteed loans are held for “Just In Time” disbursement
- Disbursements to the college via electronic funds transfer (eft)
- Electronic check of students’ eligibility prior to disbursement

## Using PC Technology

- Office forms
- Student Information Form, Verification Worksheet, Professional Judgment, Additional Loan Form, etc
- Developed in the office on Microsoft Word
- Stored on network drive accessible to all staff; printed as needed
- Sent to additional sites via email attachment

- PCC Foundation Scholarship
- Multiple donors (scholarships) in one application
- Using Microsoft Access to record and organize the data
- Stored on network drive for access by more than one staff person

## Managing the Paper

- Document Imaging
- Definition-Electronic storage, processing, retrieval, routing, and archiving of documents.
- All student documents
- Objective-Access to every student financial aid file, by every staff person, at all times.

## Document Imaging

- Current Process
- Date stamp the document and log it on the computer as received
- Image and index the document by SSN, academic year and document name
- Run computer program from Student Information System for a list of complete files
- Verify and/or set up the file for automatic awarding based on computer data and imaged documents

## Document Imaging

- Advantages
- Improved document management and retrieval
- Improved service to students
- Office is uncluttered and more professional looking

## Technology for Student Use

- Student computers with internet access
- FAFSA
- Selective Service
- Loan Counseling
- Scholarship Searches
- PCC web site

## Student Computers

- Advantages
- Assistance from knowledgeable staff
- Access for those who may not have computers
- Timely and accurate information
- EFCs in August
- Loan counseling on demand
- Duplicate service at additional sites
- More student knowledge and control of their financial aid
- Educating students on use of computers and the internet

## How do we do it?

- Unlimited funds?  No!
- Share costs as part of Community Colleges of Colorado
- Trickle-down computers for student access
- Free Department of Education software
- Research to document that the technology is cheaper than labor
- Illustrate how the technology improves service to students

## How do we do it?

- Hire only computer techs for staff?  No.
- Free available training
- College courses
- Community Education courses
- Computer services trainers
- Share knowledge between staff
- Electronic Access Conferences

- Make friends with the college computer personnel
- Become knowledgeable
- Trouble-shoot what you can
- Respect their time and abilities
- Say thank-you

## Where do we want to go?

- Electronic Work Study Timesheets
- Access from any college computer
- More efficient than paper
- More accurate than paper

- Batch letters directly from an electronic file to document imaging
- Award Letters; Satisfactory Progress Letters; Electronic Work Study Timesheets
- Use less paper
- More efficient
- Better use of staff time

## What Else?

- Expand the use of internet for student access to their financial aid information
- Currently, students have access to their award notices, grades, financial bill and class registration
- Need to add information concerning the documents needed to complete their financial aid file
- Direct access to the forms needed as well as scholarship application forms

## It is my goal to use technology for the repetitive tasks and to use staff to work with people.

## Questions?

- For additional information:
- Audrey.osswald@pcc.cccoes.edu