The most easy error to make
Financial Aid? My, goodness... how innocently recruitment staff with good intensions find themselve triping over their own words about "how" they describe or answer prospective students questions about this crucial component of student enrollment.
Knowledge is power.. and the more people understand about this topic the better, in my humble opinion; for it has been my experience that if you EDUCATE people, they will be able to speak more concise and accurately about a topic as opposed to using the "NON-EDUCATION" approach hoping if they don't know they won't say anything. ummm, if only that were true.
I think there is a difference between having enough knowledge to do your just effectively and trying to answer questions outside of your expertise. When it comes to specific FA questions, sometimes, in the admissions world, not knowing is the best medicine. Referring the student to a trained FA professional is going to give the student piece of mind and make sure that you don't say something that might not be accurate.
I love the "stay in you own lane" advice! So true. There is an entire department devoted to this issue, therefor we should let them do the talking in this area.
Knowledge is powerful. Knowing when you are allowed to say things is the strength.
My experience has shown that keeping admissions and FA seperate can be a good thing. When questions about FA arise I always have them speak with financial aid. Obviously basic questions can be answered but the bulk of the answers about FA should be coming from FA.
It's better to be safe than sorry. If there is ever a doubt in your mind regardigng the answer you're about to give to a prospective student, stop to confirm your answer. Do the research to get the student a solidified answer. There's no room for error.
One thing our school has is a FA Portal. It takes all the guess work out of FA. We provide the website an the school helps them with the rest.
Knowledge is power as well as honesty. Walking the parents/students through the process and setting expectations prior to them meeting with their finanical aid officer is a wonderful idea. Honesty is key here as well, at the end of the day, it has to be the decision of the student if they want to take on the investment of school.
The best advice I ever got on dealing with issues surrounding FA was to, "Stay In Your Own Lane". I refer all student questions regarding finances to the FA department.
At our school, the admission's staff also helps the students with financial aid. We have been highly trained in the financial aid world. However, if there is ever a question we don't know the answer to, it is always important to get the correct answer from our financial aid department. You are correct our students to build good rapport with our admissions team, that's why it is great that we are able to help and have been highly trained about financial aid.
It seems that as much of this responsibility as possible should be allocated to dedicated student finance associates.
The financial aid department is available to students for a purpose. This purpose is to educated and inform students of their financial obligations. I feel as though students build that solid rapport with the admissions team and the students want them to answer all their questions. As an admissions representative, I feel it's best to make the students comfortable with the financial aid department. Students can then feel calm an confident that they are gettting all of their questions answered by the correct individuals.
I can't say I fully agree. There is nothing wrong with simply stating "I don't know, but we can get you in touch with financial aid and they can help you with that".
When I am asked any question about FA / that is my answer. I would rather the student be a little annoyed at having to speak to someone else then possibly give them the wrong information.
Admissions can deal with admissions and FA can deal with the money.
I usually refer all students to FA to answer all these questions as I do not want to misrepresent the FA available & regulations do change. I would hope that students need to sign off on the information they were given & hopefully they have a written copy of same.
I agree. I have seen the best intentions, and correct procedures being followed, be turned into something different by another individual. FA do need to assure they are using clear and concise words to describe answers to prospective students at time of enrollment, and asking if they do understand and repeat.
I agree. Students always ask about FA and we are not always aware of the information they will be gettin in FA. Our DOA had us talk to the FA reps about what they do in a brief so that we would know what we are putting them through. We have to fins a compliant way of overcoming the fears for most students bceause getting a pin # isn't doing it. I appreciate everything our FA advisors do for our students, however we build the rapport with them and we need to be the ones to explain the VALUE of investing in education without overstepping our boundaries and the more education we receive on this topic, the better chance we have at saving/helping a student.
