Student Financial Services

The office of Student Financial Services encompasses Accounts Receivable, Financial Aid Business Office, and University Cashiers. Accounts Receivable manages student accounts receivable, other campus operational accounts receivable and billings, fee waivers and other fee exemptions. The Financial Aid Business Office issues federal, state and campus student financial aid grants and loans, manages the student emergency loan process, and accounts for use of all campus financial aid funds. The University Cashiers Office provides electronic and counter bursar services to students, faculty, and staff, including handling payment for tuition fees, deposits from departments for campus and auxiliary activities, petty cash, and payroll warrants.

People:

  • Presented Money Management at new student/transfer orientations with Financial Aid

Processes:

  • Collaborated with System Operations and Development (SOD) to discuss timing of Banner 7 update and non-student conversion to PeopleSoft
  • In collaboration with Financial Aid, Enrollment Services, Equal Opportunity Program (EOP), and College Academic Master Plan (CAMP), set up deferments to ensure students were not dropped before their Free Application for Student Aid (FAFSA) could be completed
  • Improved Financial Aid check pick up for the first half of the Fall disbursement, which increased direct deposit sign up significantly
  • The collaboration between SOD and Student Financial Services (SFS) resulted in the timely completion of printing 1098-T’s
  • Prompt Pay began with 267 students dropped compared with dropping 400-500 students in the past;  this reduction of dropped students is attributed to two actions that were done in collaboration with SOD: a weekly e-mail to students notifying them of their outstanding balances, and delaying the running of Prompt Pay by one day
  • Worked with Financial Aid and the Office of the Dean of Students to clear outstanding balances for students affected by Katrina
  • SFS, Enrollments Services, Registration and Records, and Financial Aid all matched office hours for the two-week add/drop period.  All four areas were open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., M-F to service the students’ needs across departments
  • SFS and Financial Aid developed a cross-departmental procedure for the checking of minimum units and balances owed for alternative loans and scholarship checks
  • Continued collaboration with Financial Aid and Scholarship Office and Housing to post housing charges to the student’s account
     

Campus Community:

  • Coordinated to meet year-end deadlines with Budget Managers.  Ensured all year-end invoicing, petty cash, ASI, and Foundation were within the dates set by the year-end calendar
  • Coordinated processes to ensure student financial matters would be handled timely to prevent disenrollment, past-due notices, etc., for Summer Bridge, CAMP and EOP students
  • Met with Financial Aid to review interdepartmental processes and scheduled monthly meetings to ensure that we jointly communicated to students
  • Cashiers and SOD stayed open until 5:30 on Orientation days resulting in Financial Aid check pick up being viewed as successful by the campus community
  • Sent weekly emails to students who had outstanding balances for the summer term to ensure awareness of the summer prompt payment deadline
     

Resources and Regulations:

  • Updated the cash-handling policy to be included in University procedure

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