2023 Student Financial Services Conference

Where do things stand for higher education halfway through the first term of the Biden Administration? How will a divided Congress affect the administration’s agenda? Hear timely updates from the nation’s capital including recent rulemaking efforts at the Department of Education and other federal agencies. You’ll also learn about advocacy action items for the higher education community, and notable action within Congress and the federal agencies.

Speakers

• Bryan Dickson, director, student financial services and educational programs, NACUBO
• Ashley Jackson, director, government affairs, NACUBO

This session will highlight the pre-collections solution one institution has implemented to increase student engagement and retention. After reviewing the challenges that existed before a solution was identified, panelists will share best practices used to generate revenue for the institution while reducing staff workloads. The presenters will also share success stories from other institutions. By being proactive rather than reactive, these proven methods and processes will help your institution combat the upcoming enrollment cliff and the great resignation in higher education.

• Kristy Pritchett, director of student account services, The University of Alabama
• Sarah Cantrell, senior manager, program management, ECSI
• Christina Weitzel, director, marketing, ECSI

Explore how a regional public university’s student accounts office worked with the provost’s office and the financial aid team to collaboratively implement a summer reboot program in early 2022. The goal of this program was to identify first-year students who had lost their aid because they did not meet Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) requirements in their first two semesters but could meet SAP for the next fall term if they earned credits in the Summer with a “B” or better in each course. With a small investment by the university and academic coaching and support, this institution was able to increase retention of their first-year students.

• Wendy A. Pursell, director of student accounts, Kutztown University

NACUBO’s Student Financial Services Benchmarking initiative is entering its 15th year and has added numerous participating institutions to its rich data set. During this session, presenters will present study findings alongside the results of the 2022 SFS Policies and Procedures Survey to facilitate a lively discussion on trends and practices in the student accounts community, including late fee policies, collections and write-offs, tuition rate structures, and financial literacy education programs.

• Kathleen Masterson, assistant director, research and policy analysis, NACUBO
• Jackie Agustin, manager, analytics and research, NACUBO

Today’s payments landscape is rapidly changing. There are over 200 alternative payment methods globally and most are designed to move payments “faster,” which we know does not always mean practical, safer, or more efficient. So, what does “faster” really mean? This session will share insights on consumer adoption trends and what higher education needs to know about alternative payments. We’ve all heard of Zelle, Apple Pay, Venmo, and cryptocurrency, just to name a few. What are the leading faster payment methods? How do they compare to each other and to traditional payments like check, wire transfer, and ACH? Can they be accepted from both domestic and international payers? Are they safe? Are they regulated? Can they be integrated into your existing in-house and vendor provided systems? This session lays out the fundamentals of alternative and faster payments and provides insight into developing a payments strategy.

Speaker

• Ruth Harpool, payment services advisor, CampusGuard

This conversational roundtable is designed to bring like-minded individuals together early in the conference to collaborate, discuss trends and hot topics, and network. Come join your peers to review tips, tricks, and best practices. Chances are that if you are thinking about an issue, someone else is, too!

Speakers

• Chris Foster, assistant vice president, student accounting, University of North Texas
• Jacqui Gatlin, bursar, University of Colorado Denver | Anschutz Medical Campus

Students change their class schedules, departments change their course offerings, and institutions change their enrollment and tuition strategies. All these changes impact operations in Student Accounts and Financial Aid. Collaboration across units is critical for managing the anticipated and unanticipated changes over the course of a term or academic year. Examine those routine actions that require Student Accounts and Financial Aid adjustments to student records, and how they can be standardized to be less disruptive. Presenters will discuss various best practices related to workflow, communications, and system support. Attendees will have the opportunity to share their experiences and suggestions, as well.

• Joyce Farmer, financial aid director, DeSales University
• Christine Blakney, senior managing director, Texas Tech University

Significant changes to federal student aid policy—including simplifying the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, expanding Pell Grant eligibility to incarcerated students, and making changes to the Cost of Attendance and Professional Judgment—were attached to the FAFSA Simplification Act. This session will outline those changes, implementation dates, and anticipated changes to current practices on campus. The presenters will also discuss the impact for students and families.

• Dana Kelly, vice president of professional development and institutional compliance, National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators

Communicating effectively with students and parents is a universal challenge in higher education. A more significant challenge is getting them to act, even if they will benefit from doing so. Hear the changes one institution implemented to motivate students and parents to ultimately say, “I’ll do my part.” This effort resulted in a successful communications campaign for direct deposit re-enrollment and a reduction in the costs of generating checks and monitoring uncashed checks. Attendees will learn how to assess the human, financial, and logistical resources available and discover how to assign roles and empower team members to take initiative to resolve emerging issues.

• Amelia Campos, assistant director, student business services, Texas A&M University
• Peggy L. Carey, director, student business services, Texas A&M University
• Ivan Matip, communications manager, student business services, Texas A&M University

Job opportunities in the student financial services industry have recently increased due to many reasons, such as the pandemic and retirements; but employees at all levels may find that they are holding themselves back from growth, often due to lack of self-confidence or what is commonly called Imposter Syndrome. Let's identify these attributes and the various ways we hold ourselves back, evaluate them as a group, and brainstorm ways that we can overcome them to get what we deserve!

• Ellen Curcio, director of student financial services, Ursinus College
• Wendy A. Pursell, director of student accounts, Kutztown University

Hear how one institution rebuilt its collections program—both internal and external—during the COVID-19 pandemic to focus on student success, increased efficiencies, and analytics. Presenters will share how the collections program evolved through policy changes, program reviews, and software implementations, and by leveraging institutional and vendor partnerships. Discover how to balance student success while maintaining compliance and an effective accounts receivable operation. You'll also gain a better understanding of ways to identify opportunities within your own organization to enhance its collections strategy.

• Chris Foster, assistant vice president, student accounting, University of North Texas
• Keenan Ivy, director, student financial operations, University of North Texas
• Renee McBride, director, student accounts, University of North Texas

What does it mean to provide customer service in a hybrid environment? Explore how one institution transitioned to hybrid using state of the art technologies. Presenters will review the abrupt changes they made while staying focused on its office’s culture, the integration of new tools, and changes to employee scheduling modes. They will also share the means of their internal communication, how they maximized the use of student talent, and ways they use data to monitor and continue to adjust their service model. Walk away understanding how they not only survived the pandemic, but also came out better on the other side.

• Jared Church, associate director, student financial solutions, University of California San Diego
• Veronica Olvera-Salce, operations analyst, student financial solutions, University of California San Diego

The use of data and analytics across higher education is on the rise and discussions around diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the forefront of today's conversations. There are myriad reasons to analyze data with a DEI lens—but what does it look like? In this session, we will explore key questions and principles to consider as you build or enhance your data strategy. Come ready to reflect on your data use and identify opportunities to effectively leverage data with DEI in mind.

Speakers

• Jackie Agustin, manager, analytics and research, NACUBO

Speaker

• Rich Williams, chief of staff, office of postsecondary education, U.S. Department of Education

In planning for a one stop service model, one institution had to quickly adjust its priorities when given a two-year timeline to complete their physical space. The team then began a journey of constant process improvement to drive effective student-focused change by challenging a decentralized model, understanding the complexities of a legacy environment, working with limited resources, and assessing the efficacy of current practices and policies. During this session, presenters will highlight the student-centered approach, situated in a process improvement framework, that led to enhancements in virtual and self-service options. They’ll also outline the theoretical underpinnings of the process improvement framework. Attendees will leave with the ability to adapt these strategies to meet the needs of their unique campuses, further bolster the student experience, enhance self-service options, and drive student success outcomes.

• Deepa Bhalla, assistant vice chancellor, Rutgers University–New Brunswick
• Jay Stefanelli, director, one stop student services center, Rutgers University–New Brunswick

Student debt is the second-highest consumer debt category after mortgages, totaling $1.7 trillion for 47.9 million Americans, with 95 percent holding federal loans. Over the last decade, the number of people with student loans has increased on average by 1 million annually. Programs like Public Service Student Loan Forgiveness provide debt relief to those choosing a career path that has a meaningful impact—like teachers and nurses. Hear how you can help students entering the workforce find a career path that helps them gain valuable experience while eliminating debt to achieve financial success by partnering with your Human Resources offices.

Speakers

• Jared Aupperle, assistant vice president for HR support and services, University of Delaware
• Gisela McKenzie, benefits administration manager, University of Delaware
• Adam Murphy, managing director, advice solutions, TIAA
• Aaron Smith, co-founder, Savi Solutions, PBC

Facilitators

• Morgan O'Sullivan, director of student financial services communications and operations, Lynn University
• Kristy Pritchett, director of student account services, The University of Alabama

We face the daily challenge of explaining to students and families why payments are due, regardless of whether they dropped out, failed their classes, or disliked their instructors. This session’s presenters will share how they have the necessary conversation with students and families, sometimes with tough love, regarding finances. They’ll share the university’s Top 10 expressions of good customer service, along with a discussion on the how the institution differentiates between high-touch customer services and streamlining the communication medium, all while maintaining the elite service for which they are known.

• Mary A. Dwyer, assistant director of student financial services, Lynn University
• Jana Werksman, student financial services specialist, Lynn University

Simply put, colleges would not exist without students. All the best financial practices, business operations, and collaborations cease to be applicable if students are not kept at the forefront when planning and executing financial services. This presentation will weave together new, original research, conducted by the presenter, with an overview of trends within American higher education that are likely to affect the way business officers carry out their operations. As students and their concerns and expectations evolve, so must the way we serve this ever-changing population.

• Travis Overton, vice president for executive initiatives, chief of staff, Coastal Carolina University
• Christine Simone, director, leadership development, NACUBO

For international students, one of the principal determinants to a college or university admissions choice is the student’s on-boarding experience which starts with in-country, peer to peer evaluation of payment providers and the influence of education agents. Processes of workarounds to send money out of the country, even with a campus branded payment portal available, are increasingly regulated and limited, and expose students to the most common fraud schemes. Mitigating those risks can improve net tuition inflows and an institution's ability to recruit more international students. Walk away with a greater understanding of students’ experiences in-country as they are making college and university payments, international banking regulations, and challenges impacting tuition payments.

• Stephen Golding, chief financial officer, Ohio University
• Karen Gumin, vice president, university support and business development, EasyTransfer

Managing your campus payments infrastructure can be challenging, especially when you consider the fact that your campus is likely working with dozens of entities that all need to take payments. With hundreds of vendors to select from, imagine the challenge of making sure this is all secure and compliant. It's a good thing that's not your job! Wait, what? When you consider the challenges that exist with respect to security, compliance, deployment, vendor management, merchant training, and chargebacks, the advantage of a platform approach to commerce management becomes strategic to your success. During this session, presenters will review strategies for making vendor management easier, secure, and PCI compliant.

• Kristy Pritchett, director of student account services, The University of Alabama
• John McElroy, senior manager product strategy, TouchNet

Do you know how to build a financial literacy program from scratch, or take your current program to another level without impacting your departmental budget? Attend this session to learn how to build out a program for your entire campus. You’ll leave with a concrete plan for your institutions and a framework for running individual financial literacy sessions. This highly interactive session will have games, Kahoots, and polls, so come ready to learn in a fun environment where you will leave energized and ready to bring a dynamic student financial literacy program to your institution.

• Ellen Curcio, director of student financial services, Ursinus College
• Morgan O'Sullivan, director of student financial services communications and operations, Lynn University

Students with stranded credits, new laws and policies governing use of transcript holds, and the need to balance enrollment and revenue goals with customer satisfaction are among the issues creating changes in how institutions must look at billing and collecting for their student accounts receivables. Factor in a changing workplace with both student and workforce needs along with new laws and regulations adding layers of institutional requirements, and debt collections take on a new look and feel. Hear from industry experts about those trends and solutions that require your immediate attention, as well as how to construct new business models that will facilitate necessary changes with minimal friction. This presentation will dive into the newest legal constraints as well as alternatives to still make sure the student is not incurring overwhelming debt to finance their education while ensuring institutions have sustainable financial models.

• DeAhn Baucom, university cashier, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Christine Blakney, senior managing director, Texas Tech University
• Joe Weglarz, executive director, student financial services, Marist College
• David R. Glezerman, managing partner, The DRG Group, LLC
• James Jones, executive vice president, Reliant Capital Solutions

Withholding transcripts due to an unpaid balance has been a long-held, widespread practice among colleges and universities. While many institutions argue for its effectiveness in collecting past due balances, national attention is challenging that notion. This session will cover state and federal laws, regulations, guidance, and institutional policies related to transcript and diploma holds for outstanding financial debts owed to the institution. You will also hear how one institution leveraged data to examine the unintended impact of its transcript withholding policy on certain student populations and how the school ultimately ended the practice.

• Megan Casey, director, bursar operations, Johnson County Community College
• Jacqui Gatlin, bursar, University of Colorado Denver | Anschutz Medical Campus
• Karen Reddick, vice president-business development, National Credit Management

In the bursar’s office, it can sometimes be easy to be focused on tasks, challenges, and the here-and-now so that staff may lose focus on their college or university’s mission and how their work fits in to the institution’s strategic goals. Working together, higher education leaders at all levels in all departments can help an institution move towards its vision. Hear perspectives from one college president on how business officers fit into these conversations. The transformational changes faced by colleges and universities will be covered as he draws upon personal experience to emphasize how to stay true to mission in turbulent times and beyond.

Speaker

• Dr. Donald Generals, president, Community College of Philadelphia