Student Development Division

Annual Program Review Form

2010-11

Department: Financial Aid Office

Contact Person: Jorge Bell

Date: March 3, 2011

Please check this box to certify that faculty and staff in your unit discussed the major planning objectives: X

Description of Programs and Services and their Locations

Financial Aid Office (FAO): Financial Aid consists of programs which are funded and regulated by federal and state government agencies. There are four kinds of financial aid: Grants, Work Study, Loans and Fee Waivers. All financial aid at CCSF is administered in accordance with policies which have been established nationally. The basis of such policies is the belief that students and their parents have the primary responsibility to meet educational costs and that financial aid is available only to fill the gap between the family’s and/or student’s contribution and allowable educational expenses. A student and/or family contribution is determined by a careful analysis of financial strength: income and net assets which the family may have versus the allowable expenses. Educational expenses include tuition, fees, books and supplies, room, board, transportation, and personal expenses. FAO has an established student budget to reflect the costs of each of these items based on a statewide cost survey and local cost data. Our goal is to keep the doors to education open to all students. The Financial Aid Office is located in Cloud Hall, Room #324. Personnel in this office are deciated to document intake, processing and awarding, billing and general customer service.

The Financial Aid Academic Counselors advise and counsel students regarding academic, career and transfer as they are related to financial aid on an individual basis as well as student responsibilities to maintain financial aid eligbilitiy. In addition, financial aid counselors review appeals for financial aid recipients who do not maintain satisfactory academic progress and /or have more than 90 attempted units and review petitions for students who have a degree but wish to continue their education. Counselors are located in Cloud Hall, Room # 330

Personnel in the two Financial Aid Information Centers help more than 9,000 students each year complete financial aid applications, on-line loan workshops, access Web 4 and answer general financial aid questions. The Information Centers are located in Cloud Hall, Room # 321 and MultiUse, Room #130B.

Umbrella Programs: Under the umbrella of Financial Aid Resources , the Financial Aid Office also administers the following programs:

• The Scholarship Office assists students in applying for scholarships that are available at the College. Scholarships are provided to CCSF students by the generosity of foundations, corporations, and individual donors.The Scholarship Office is located in MU 130B.

• Single Stop helps low-income students/families access public benefits, tax credits and other essential services that remain untapped and inaccessible. These basic resources increase the likelihood that families are healthy and stable, with parents who work and children who attend school. There are two Single Stop Offices: Ocean Campus, MU 101 and Mission Campus, Rm. 151.

CalWORKs’ objectives are addressed in their own program review.

EOPS, Harts and Guardian Scholars

These programs no longer report to the Financial Aid Office.

1. Please provide reflections on the above data trends for your department. If you have additional data that you would like to provide, please also include that here.

The data indicates that while staffing has remained constant the amount of financial aid awarded to students has almost doubled. We anticipate the need for financial aid services will continue to grow.

2. Please describe any internal or external developments affecting your department since the last program review.

·  During the past ten years, the number of students receiving financial aid has increase by approximately 400%. Last year we served more than 30,000 students and awarded more than $50,000,000 in financial aid to students. This year, we estimate that an additional 3,000 students will receive financial aid. If we track Pell grants over the last three years, we see how this trend is spiking. In 2008/2009, we awarded $18,000,000 in Pell. In 2009/2010, we awarded $30,000,000 in Pell. In 2010/2011, we estimate awarding more than $38,000,000. To address the needs of our growing student population, we need to open more doors to financial aid and use technology to allow students to access services.

3. Summarize your department’s progress since the last program review on implementing your six-year plan for reviewing all courses, programs, projects, and services. Please also update the Excel spreadsheet that contains your timeline for this review and for the assessment of student learning outcomes. If your unit does not offer courses, use this space to discuss your plans for assessing your administrative unit outcomes.

·  Decentralize Financial Aid Office

The FAO opened two new “doors” to financial aid. 1) Financial Aid counselors were relocated to a new office in Cloud Hall 330. Counseling services now have their own designated space student no longer have to wait in the line in the Financial Aid Office to see a financial aid counselor and appointment scheduling has improved. 2) A new Financial Aid/Scholarship Information Center opened in fall 2010. Student have access to ten addition computers to use to complete financial aid application, on-line loan workshops, access Web 4 and acces to a financial aid staff member to answer general financial aid questions.

All hands on deck policy

Two weeks before school begins and three week after school has begun, the FAO implemented an all hands on deck policy. Each day approximately 14 staff are dedicated to the students in the financial aid line. Also, Student Ambassadors support the financial aid line during the first weeks of classes. This has helped to decrease the wait time for student and improved customer service.

Partnership with New Student Counseling and Matriculation

Financial Aid counselors have worked with New Student Counseling and Matriculation to imbed financial aid information the college’s enrollment and orientation process. This has proven to be highly successful. In response to students’ request, the financial aid presentation was increased from 20 minutes to 40 minutes.

4. Summarize your department’s progress since the last program review on the plans for improvement in courses, programs, projects, and services based on the assessment of student learning outcomes. If your unit does not offer courses, use this space to discuss your progress in improving your services based on the assessment of your administrative unit outcomes. What is working particularly well? Are there items you need help with?

·  In Fall 2010, financial aid counselors administered a pre and post survey to students who attended 34 satisfactory academic progress workshops. The pre-test results were 40 % positive and the post test resulted were 87% positive. Counselors used this data and the data from our previous SLOs to develop curriculum for our new Financial Aid Student Orientation.

5. Summarize your progress to date on the major objectives you identified in last year’s program review (excluding progress already cited in #3 and #4).

·  Document Imaging System

During the summer 2010, the FAO purchased a Banner integrated document imaging system. The office worked diligently, programming and creating Banner forms and testing the system. The system will be piloted in summer 2011.

·  Scholarship Office

Scholarships are held by the College and the Foundation. The Foundation completed their separation from the college this year. This posed some unforeseen challenges. The Office developed a new website with a user friendly application.

6. What are the department’s major objectives for the 2011-12 academic year? Cite linkages, where applicable, to college plans. You may also cite linkages to the department’s review of courses, programs and assessment of student learning.

·  Continue to decentralize the Financial Aid Office

The Financial Aid Office plans to continue to decentralize the office by opening full financial aid offices at Evan and Mission. These centers would provide an addition “door” to Financial Aid. This will support the college’s recruitment and retention efforts.

·  Implement New Financial Aid Student Orientation

In fall 2010 and spring 2011, the Financial Aid Office surveyed financial aid students. Financial Aid counseling faculty determined from this survey that many financial aid students would benefit from a new financial aid student orientation. Faculty developed curriculum in spring 2011 and will pilot the orientation in summer 2011, for full implementation in fall 2011. The orientation includes topics such as: how financial aid works, how to access your (student) information without having to wait in line and how to maintain eligibility.

·  Implement Imaging system

A document imaging system will be piloted in summer 2011 and implemented in fall 2011 and spring 2012. The imaging system is tightly integrated with the Internet Native Banner applications supported by SunGard Higher Education which is the software programs and applications used by City College. This will allow us to begin to go paperless. Staff will scan and accept documents. Financial Aid employees will be able to retrieve and award students from any of City College’s more than 200 instructional sites.

Bonus Question for 2010-11: What progress has your department / program made on the college-wide initiative to improve textbook affordability and access for all our students? Please indicate what discussions you have had and what strategies you have developed to combat the high cost of textbooks.

New Resources Needed

Briefly describe each project. Include specific links, where applicable, to college plans to support your request. You may also include specific links to the department’s review of courses, programs and assessment of student learning. Please remember to include any costs associated with staffing, equipment, supply, facilities, or unit requests. If exact costs are unknown, please approximate. Put your projects in order of priority. Add additional items as necessary.

First Priority

x This is a new request  We initially made this request in our Program Review

Second Priority

x This is a new request  We initially made this request in our Program Review

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