Overseeing the financial aid office is a daunting task with many possible points of failure and a whole new vocabulary. When the office is not running at optimum health, errors and omissions will appear in audits or program reviews by the U.S. Department of Education. Such financial aid office trouble can result in great cost […]
Christian colleges, universities, and schools face a myriad of challenges that threaten much-needed revenue streams. The majority of schools lack substantial endowments and must rely on net tuition dollars to meet growing expenses. This financial challenge is compounded with the following realities in today’s higher education market: Demographics are evolving in ways likely to create […]
People with good academic ideas often don’t consult their financial aid officer before beginning their new venture. That oversight can cost the school and the person with the great idea valuable time, money, and wasted effort. Federal regulations are sometimes ridged, but they are also flexible enough to allow institutions to be creative in developing […]
Students are not only smart, they can be industriously unethical too. Some have learned how to attend a school just long enough to get financial aid and then leave the school to attend another school to repeat the offense. These students fraudulently receive grant funds while not receiving credits for attendance. Beginning last July such […]
Hostility and threats aimed at Christian higher education are at an all-time high. Just ask Gordon College, George Fox, and Cal Baptist Universities. They have all recently fought battles over LGBT-related issues. The recent decision of the Supreme Court on gay marriage is not the only warning that Christian higher education institutions should notice. The […]
The purpose of this presentation is to remind institutions of the US, Department of Education’s (ED) requirements for implementing various Title IV policies, procedures, and disclosures to students. Each year a school must distribute to all enrolled students a notice of the availability of information in the following general categories: General disclosures for enrolled […]
It was not an uncommon mistake. When Yellowstone Christian College (YCC) achieved candidacy with their accrediting agency, they chose a highly recommended third party servicer to help with the complexity of launching Federal Student Financial Aid. They expected the servicer to do the heavy lifting. What they did not expect was to be told they could […]
“Our job is to educate, and any involvement with Financial Aid will just complicate our mission.” Historically, that has been the mindset of academia in general and the administrative divisions of colleges, universities and seminaries, in particular. This is especially true as education access becomes more complex, including such delivery methods as massive open online […]
