Program Planning and Assessment, 2001-03

Program Planning and Assessment, 2001-03

Financial Aid OfficeBudget No.: 061-1340

1.Program Mission/Purpose

The primary purpose of the Financial Aid office is to support the academic mission of the college by providing students with funds, information and service assisting them to achieve their educational goals.

The office strives to:

 ensure continued funding for students by maintaining full compliance with

federal and state regulations, serving the needs of funding sources;

 participate fully in the Student Services division of Shoreline;

 assist staff in other offices and collaborate effectively in the whole campus

community in our combined efforts to serve students;

 educate and support students in their interactions with other offices on

campus and agencies outside of campus;

 model lifelong learning by all members of the financial aid office to increase

knowledge and skills, continually reviewing and improving our services and operations;

 provide a welcoming, inviting and caring office for serving all students.

In the administration of all federal, state and institutional funds, the office adheres to the highest ethical principles set forth by our national professional organization, NASFAA (National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators).

In serving the Strategic Plan of the College, the office has a mission to uphold the value of “open admission to all students regardless of their educational and socio-economic backgrounds.” The office directly supports Shoreline’s statement of Core Values, especially: student success, excellence, diversity, access, support innovation, collaboration. The office mission is also to specifically support Strategic Direction #4, Strategy #3: “Foster positive interaction among faculty, staff, students and administrators.”

2.Students Served by Program

Federal and state financial aid programs provide access to education by reducing the financial barriers so eligible students are able to attend college. Financial Aid programs offer three types of assistance: grants, loans, and work study. Grant funds are intended for students with the greatest financial need. Eligibility is determined by federal and state criteria.

To apply for aid, students use the federal application form and submit additional documentation to Shoreline. Staff assist students with the application process and with advising to maintain their eligibility. The office continually evaluates its operations, seeking to streamline the application process for students.

In 2000-01, there was a slight increase in the number of students who listed

Shoreline on their federal financial aid application (the FAFSA). However, there

was a slight decrease in the number of students who took the next step of submitting Shoreline’s financial aid data sheet, and who eventually completed their financial aid file. The categories and approximate numbers are listed below.

Listed Shoreline on FAFSA — students who listed Shoreline as one of the

schools when they submitted the federal financial aid form (the FAFSA)

Applicants,Partially complete file — students who listed Shoreline on their

FAFSA and who also submitted the Shoreline Financial Aid Data Sheet

Complete, Reviewed, Awarded — students who submitted all documents

required to complete their financial aid file, which was reviewed, and they were awarded aid

1999-002000-01

Listed Shoreline on FAFSA 4,041 4,193

Applicants, Partially complete file 2,039 1,885

Complete, Reviewed, Awarded 1,653 1,573

Below is a summary of the dollars disbursed to students in grants, loans, and work study programs. The totals show a slight decrease in overall loan borrowing, consistent with the slight decrease in students applying for and receiving aid. However, there was a slight increase in students eligible for grants, which could represent an applicant population that had lower income. There also was a slight increase in the amount of work study that students earned, which would also be consistent with an applicant population that had a slightly lower income.

Grants1999-002000-01

Pell (federal) 1,438,888 1,612,583

SEOG (federal) 125,040 110,430

State Need Grant (WA state) 868,384 900,813

Shoreline Grant (3.5% funds) 143,209 287,033

Tuition Waiver (3% waiver) 168,063 156,730

Total 2,575,521 2,910,859

Loans (federal)

Stafford, subsidized 1,045,221 915,573

Stafford, unsubsidized 647,728 641,469

Parent Loans (PLUS) 44,289 36,387

Nursing Loans 37,338 37,082

Total 1,774,576 1,630,511

1999-002000-01

Work Study

State Work Study (WA state) 244,518 259,377

Federal Work Study (federal) 137,994 130,226

Total 382,512 389,603

Total financial aid 4,732,609 4,930,973

In addition to serving students with the types of financial aid listed above, more students are requesting assistance through the Worker Retraining programs. The number of students and amount of funds are reported through the Workforce and Economic Development office at Shoreline. The financial aid office provides a full-time Program Coordinator for Worker Retraining programs, funded by Shoreline’s division for Workforce and Economic Development. Students funded through these programs frequently come into the office for the readily available direct access to this staff member for advising and assistance in applying for the “regular” federal and state financial aid programs. As the students who begin with Worker Retraining apply for financial aid, the whole office is active in serving this population. Staff assist students at the front desk, reviewtheir financial aid application documents, provide information, and assist them to receive funds.

The office has a strong emphasis on providing direct service to all students requesting assistance. The students served by staff in the financial aid office come to Shoreline from a wide variety of individual backgrounds and educational experiences. Some students have special needs for varying degrees of information and needs for different types of support from many offices on campus. Many students have complex personal situations that require additional care and time. As in any public service environment, some students being assisted choose inappropriate ways of managing their anger and frustrations, not all of which are related to the financial aid process. A few students are especially difficult and disruptive, consuming extraordinary amounts of staff time, which affects the ability to serve other students. A few students in recent years have written letters or sent e-mails complaining to various political officials. The financial aid process, with its multiple forms and processes, layered with regulations, is a common focal point of frustration for students in all institutions of higher education.

The financial aid office participates fully in the multiple support services available for students on campus at Shoreline. This service environment seems adequate in responding to and supporting individual students. However, for greater effectiveness and a more far reaching impact, the financial aid office advocates that Shoreline embody a proactive approach in a broad and systematic style, encouraging the whole campus to place the needs of students at the center of all campus operations. In vital areas that affect every student, such as advising and cashiering, and in significant details such as clear, consistent and reliable written information, the financial aid office supports the operations of all other campus offices to continually become more effective in serving our students.

3.Criteria and Methods for Measuring Program Effectiveness

The financial aid office must effectively serve at least three primary constituencies: a) students; b) federal and state regulatory requirements; and

c) the goals of Shoreline’s Strategic Plan. These three primary areas sometimes have conflicting needs. Other constituencies include federal loan lenders and guaranty agencies, state agencies, scholarship agencies, community organizations and other funding agencies. As a student service office, the work does not always generate precise data with which to measure program effectiveness. Additional qualitative feedback is needed to understand the many dimensions of service effectiveness.

Some quantitative measures could include:

 amount of funds awarded, annually

 number of applications processed by the start of fall quarter

 number of financial aid checks produced by the start of fall quarter

Some qualitative measures could include:

 improvements to efficiency and effectiveness of office operations

 effectiveness of working relationships and operational functioning with other offices at Shoreline, especially with Registration and the office of Budget and Accounting

 feedback from students, staff, other offices

 audits

 use of funds

 meeting departmental goals

 program feedback from Vice President for Student Services

4.Enrollment/Staffing Trends

N/A, for non-instructional units

5.Significant Anticipated Changes

Increased financial needs of students are expected, especially with a recent increase in unemployment and a decreased economic forecast. The office expects to see more students coming who are recently unemployed, and who have families. Worker Retraining funds are limited, especially with reduced state resources. It is probable that more students who need financial assistance for education will borrow more student loans. As national welfare reform begins to make a significant impact, more students are requesting student loans to assist with living expenses.

Projections from the Washington State Higher Education Coordinating Board Master Plan, 1995, and the HECB Student Financial Aid Overview, 1996, anticipate a steady growth in the number of students through the year 2010. Both studies predict that a higher proportion of these students will be more economically disadvantaged than in previous years. These two factors, combined with dramatic changes in federal welfare and immigration policies, present challenges that cannot yet be fully known. The need for citizens to be trained or retrained for the more highly skilled jobs of tomorrow means that education is an even higher priority. Financial aid may be the only way some people will be able to acquire the necessary education and skills.

Shoreline has close proximity to many other area community colleges and many students tend to apply to several schools simultaneously. Cascadia Community College opened fall, 2000. The financial aid office understands that some students are making enrollment decisions based upon timely information of eligibility for financial aid. These factors should provide the motivation for the college to allocate resources for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the financial aid office. As has already been seen in prior years, increased allocations to the financial aid office can help streamline and strengthen the services, increasing the speed of the process and improving the delivery of aid to students. An increase in the base budget of the financial aid office will allow for more training to help reduce the risk of audit liabilities, and reduce the workload for other offices including staff in registration and fiscal services.

The financial aid office accomplishes a significant amount of hard work and complex technical tasks. The office must be able to serve students and provide caring, thoughtful assistance while also meeting the precise requirements of auditors and fiscal details. To meet these rigorous demands, staff will need continual training, much of which will require travel to area meetings. Some federal training meetings are only offered out of state, (especially for training in electronic financial aid processes).

Reductions in state funding could occur, with the current state economic forecasts. In addition to reduced funding for college operations, reductions might affect the Washington State Need Grant, State Work Study, and the Worker Retraining programs.

Electronic processesfor the administration of financial aid are expected to increase. The U.S. Department of Education has recently moved its most significant processes to the internet. Shoreline, as other colleges, now receives all student application data, requests federal funds (through Budget and Accounting) and reports on expenditures of federal funds—all through internet processes. It is expected that federal regulations will continue to require that colleges upgrade their computer capacity for the administration of financial aid. The U.S. Department of Education has required upgrades about every two-three years.

Improvements to the financial aid office’s electronic processing functions will strengthen the capacity for providing better service to students and for meeting federal and state program administration requirements. Continual staff participation at training conferences is essential for: continued compliance with regulations; to reduce risk of audit liability; to create and maintain streamlined services to students; and to develop and strengthen staff. Also essential to the smooth functioning of the financial aid office are computer resources. This includes institutional data processing support, technical support and equipment for staff.

Application and information processesare more electronic. Students and parents are able to complete the federal financial aid application (the FAFSA) and “sign” their applications electronically with a federal PIN (Personal Identification Number). An increasing amount of information is available to the public on the internet, especially if they have a PIN. Federal student loans are steadily moving to be more electronic in the application process.

Enrollment through evening, weekend, and Distance Education classes is increasing. More students are requesting information and assistance at times of the day when the college is closed. The number of e-mails received by the financial aid office from students is increasing. In addition to the financial aid office, this trend affects all offices involved in the process of delivering financial aid funds to students: Admissions, Registration, and Cashiers.

Support of Cascadia Community College financial aid will end by fall, 2002. The financial aid office has provided the necessary support for Cascadia’s financial aid office to operate and provide federal funds to students. While the academic year ends in spring 2002, year-end reconciliation and reporting are expected to continue through fall, 2002.

6.Program Self-Assessment

The financial aid office is an active, dynamic office. The core and the founda-tion of its effectiveness is the character and service of its staff, who work with great care and commitment.

All staff members are responsible for a full range of tasks that include direct service to students and their families, as well as tasks that require careful attention to technical detail. The work can be demanding, sometimes intense, needing a delicate balance of task and time, people and paper, disciplined focus on information and detail while also being available to others. The range of responsibilities on every desk means that staff use their knowledge and skills while continually being challenged to strengthen their capacity, to develop new skills, to refine and improve current ones.

The financial aid office is productive and well-focused. All staff are committed to helping delivering funds to students to assist them with their costs to attend Shoreline. Staff are also keenly aware that program funds are administered in compliance with federal and state regulations. The office has steadily streamlined its processes, tightened procedures, and strengthened its service.

Some of the major activities to note in the past two years are listed below.

Certification for Federal Title IV Student Financial Aid Programs

The financial aid office accomplished a major goal in the fall of 2000 when it completed the process for “recertifying” college eligibility to participate in the federal Title IV financial aid programs. These programs, as indicated in Section 2 above, provided about $3.4 million in federal Title IV grant, loan and work study funds to students for the 2000-01 year. Shoreline’s participation in these federal financial aid programs is certified through December, 2006. This process for the financial aid office is analogous to college accreditation.

Recent Audit, begun August, 2000

In the late summer and fall of 2000, the state auditor reviewed the office administration of federal and state financial aid programs. The audit indicated that the office is generally administering financial aid funds in compliance with federal and state regulations. There were minor technical mistakes made on eight student files, with minimal financial impact. The calculations used were based on federal requirements in effect for the 1999-2000 year that have since changed. In summer, 2000, Shoreline began using the new federal refund calculation formula and software required by the U.S. Department of Education, which should prevent these mistakes.

On other files, due to the continually changing plans of some students, the audit showed that three student loan borrowers left Shoreline and did not enroll as expected the following quarter as they previously indicated. Shoreline mailed these students the required information about repaying their student loans, but it was later than the 30-day timeline required by federal regulations. The unexpected change in their enrollment plans was not known to the financial aid office until much later, which meant that the office was not informed of the need to mail them the required federal loan “exit” counseling information within 30 days after they stopped attending class. As much as possible, Shoreline will continue to tighten its procedures to be sure students clarify their enrollment plans and then notify these students within 30 days. These changes in expected enrollment plans create difficulties for all colleges to meet the federal requirements.