What Happens When ' ' ' '

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What Happens When . . . . Teaching our Academic
Partners about Financial Aid
Presented by Mary Sommers Director of Financial
Aid University of Nebraska at Kearney Dina
Nielsen Assistant Dean of Students Southern Utah
University
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Session Objectives

• Help you assess your campus environment as it
  relates to faculty interaction with staff.
• Define areas where difficulties can arise between
  financial aid and faculty.
• Discuss how to build a case to influence
  decision-makers.
• Talk about Power and Relationships.

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Environmental Circumstances -- Organizational
Structure

• Student Affairs
• Business Finance
• Enrollment Management
• Academic Affairs

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How do you perceive faculty?

• Higher education institutions remain, for the
  most part, a collection of independent kingdoms
  united by athletics and common parking lots."  --
  Cook, Eaker, Ghering, Sells (2005)
•  
•  
• Partners and team players?
• Aloof and univolved?
• Somewhere in between?
•  

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More Environmental Considerations

• Institution's mission  Does it matter?
• Financial aid policy  Are your policies
  consistent with your institution's mission and
  strategy?
• Are you relying on the old financial aid
  "stand-by"  "This is what the feds say we have
  to do"?
•    
• "Seek first to understand, then to be
  understood." 
•              -- Steven R. Covey
•             Seven Habits of Highly Effective
  People (1989)

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Nine circles of academic student affairs
collaboration
Well- Coordinated Assessment
Classroom- Student Affairs Continuity
Top-Down Commitment
Service- Learning
Academic   Affairs
Student  Affairs
Mutual understanding through frequent communicatio
n
 Active   Outreach

• Cook, Ghering, Lewis (2005)

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Resources worth Reading

• Bolman, L. Deal, T. (2008). Reframing
  organizations Artistry, choice, and leadership
  (4th ed). San Francisco Jossey-Bass.
• Cook, J. Lewis, C. (Eds.). (2007). The divine
  comity Student and academic affairs
  collaboration. Washington, DC National
  Association of Student Personnel Administrators. 

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What structure already exists?

• Are you already on some institutional committees
  that provide a forum for problem solving?
• Are the right academic partners on a committee to
  which you have access?
• Do you have a Financial Aid Advisory Committee? 
  (A best practice)
• Can you create an "unofficial" financial aid
  advisory committee?

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What are the Problem Areas?

• Satisfactory Academic Progress
• Last Date of Attendance
• Scholarship Management
• Academic Program Development
• TEACH Grant
• Advising
• Enrollment Management

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Building a Case to Solve Your ProblemCase
Study  TEACH Grant Implementation
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How do you arrive at an appropriate decision in
collaboration with academic partners?

• Be the leader in the discussion. If you want to
  have impact on the outcome, be the leader.
• Gather data.  Don't be anecdotal.  What kind of
  data would be most necessary to frame the
  discussion of TEACH grant implementation?

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TEACH Grant data

• of eligible programs, i.e. high need fields
  offered at your institution
• of students enrolled in this programs
• of students eligible to receive a TEACH Grant
• placement of graduates in districts with
  teacher shortage designation
• current data on successful student loan
  repayment of teachers graduating from your
  institution

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Involve Other Stakeholders

• Once you have data, meet individually or convene
  a meeting with other stakeholders to review the
  data.  Who are the stakeholders?
•  
•          College of Education - Dean Faculty
•          Senior administrators
•           Students
•          You and your staff
•           Business Office staff? 
•  
• Make a decision/recommendation via consensus? 
  What in your campus environment would be the
  proper protocol?
• Determine with all stakeholders what
  measures/outcomes you want to track.

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Rules on Power Relationships

• Longevity matters ...
• Visibility matters ...
• Integrity matters ...
• Professionalism matters ...

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