Financial Aid Questions
Coming from a proprietary school that did not require admissions representatives to be licensed, there is already a lot of information that I know I should have been aware. Financial aid is one of those. However, at my previous institution, it was always a rule to let the student know that if they had specific financial aid questions, they should be directed at the financial aid department. I have always found this to be a good rule of thumb. Surface questions seem to be fine, but the minute it needs to get detailed, I have the student meet with financial aid. Is this the practice of anyone else in the industry that may not have necessarily had to be licensed in the past?
The school I work for have very specific rules for discussing FA. You can discuss broadly FA but all details have to be answered and explained by a FA representative. I prefer it that way because this is such an important factor for potential students that i don't want to give them any misleading info by accident.
I agree, I try to stay clear of any questions regarding finance.
Definitely - I never feel bad telling a student that I am not the expert in a certain area, and that I will connect them with the person who will be able to give them the most help.
Same with our school. Admissions reps are told to respond with standard "financial aid is available to those who qualify." Fortunately, our financial aid officer is wonderful and always makes herself available to meet briefly with a potential nursing student if they have too many concerns or questions about FA since they usually don't meet FA until after they pass their assessment test.
For our regular programs the FA officer always does an "FA-mini" right after a potential student goes through an admissions interview. This helps us admissions rep tremendously to stay within the compliance guidelines and not get bombarded with questions regarding financial aid.
Terri,
That is correct. Making general statements about financial aid that are applicable to all students is typically acceptable but answering questions about a specific student's situation needs to be left to the financial aid department.
John Ware
I agree, knowing your business as it pertains to Financial Aid is important not only to service the student but to also avoid any compliance violations on the part of the representative.
I agree with you Mark. No matter what an Agent's role is for the institution they represent, there is a high probability that an Agent will be asked about Financial Aid. It's in an Agent's customer service nature to be the best resource possible to any potential student they come in contact with; however, it is always a safe bet to defer that potential student's FA questions to the financial aid personnel at the school in which you represent. Whenever I'm asked if my school accepts Financial Aid, my response - for compliance sake, would be, "yes we do, for those that qualify. Since everyone's situation varies, we have financial aid officers on hand that can further assist you with the information you need."
I was under the impression we could give GENERAL info re: financial aid- the info that all students qualify for.... ex: Pell Grants are not available to anyone who already has a bachelors degree....only $57k in undergrad student loans....if they are in default on current student loans, that will stop them from getting additional funds, etc..... BUT we are not allowed to answer specific questions about the students personal situation, eligibility, etc. ONLY FA directors can do that - and only after they have enrolled with me (admissions director)....am I correct?
What I have been trained to say is that financial aid is available to those who qualify. We do not go into specific details. Each prospective student has the opporunity to meet with someone from financial aid to discuss their qualifications individually.
This is exactly what I do. I have been in the industry for about 8 months now and I still learn a lot every day about the financial aid process. I did not have any FA when I went to school so I have no personal experience to rely on. I answer your basic surface questions but once the questions get detailed I send them to an FA rep. Even if I know the answer I will still direct them there because I don't want to say the wrong thing or explain it non-compliantly. Always better to be safe than sorry!
This is the same process that we do here with my Institution. The only thing that we do is tell them our course tuition costs, and direct them to the FAFSA site and let them get started on their FA process. Our Business Office handles everything else according to FA and that organization gives the student confidence in us.
Yes, I believe that is a great policy. Finances in many cases are private information and should be handled by a trained financial aid advisor.
We prohibit the agents from speaking in-depth regarding topics like tuition and financial aid for which they are not the expert. They must refer to the appropriate dept.
I agree... the best practice is always to get the question to the people most qualified to answer not only that first question, but the ones that are certain to arise from the initial answer. I've not been in a sitauation with education where that applied before, but in other industries, it's the same principle.
It was the same for me. I would let them know that we did have financial aid available and referred them to the expert on campus to discuss in further detail.
I agree, it is important to have a base knowledge of Financial Aid but you have to know exactly what is ok to say and when to transfer the conversation to another department.
This has been the case with my institution as well, where some previously customer service positions have been repurposed to fill an admissions role and are now needing to be licensed. We are certainly being encouraged to continue referring any questions that can't be answered by "we participate in the federal student aid program so yes there may be financial aid available if you qualify" to Student Finance. Bottom line: I'm not an expert, but we do have some experts available, so yeah why wouldn't I just have you talk with them?
I feel it is very important for a representative to have a basis understand of financial aid. In most situation this on the of the key reasons why an individual will attend you school. If the rep is unable to answer simple question about this topic it could cause a perspective student to choose another school.
I'm a new hire, and that is how this institution opperates. The agents have overview information about financial aid, but then the student is directed to the Financial Aid department for personal evaluation, details, and qualifications for financial aid. This is very similar to the organization I worked to prior to this one.
