The estimated national student debt is approximately $1 trillion. Many student loan recipients struggle to make regular payments as they attempt to pay off the thousands of dollars of debt.

Led by Ohio State University president E. Gordon Gee, university presidents and higher education administrators across the country are calling for reform of the business model that universities have long relied upon. These leaders insist that students can no longer bear the burden of rising costs through higher tuition rates. In turn administrators are being forced to look for alternative solutions to fund the high operational costs of a university. Proposed cost-cutting solutions include additional private fund-raising, outsourcing/privatizing services, cutting staff, eliminating entire departments and standardizing forms and processes.

Financial aid offices must define strategies enabling them to operate with less funding without sacrificing quality or service. Some proposed solutions include:

•   Perform Staff Analysis

The elimination of staff positions can help to reduce a university’s expenses. However, to implement a long-term solution an evaluation of the current financial aid process is required to identify and abolish any duplicate activities and implement automation processes.

•   Evaluate Processes

Utilize financial aid consulting, or even outsourcing services to evaluate processes, offer recommendations, and implement refined automated solutions to eliminate redundancy and build improved management solutions.

•   Automate Financial Aid Processes

Implementation of automated financial aid processes is the number one way to significantly decrease the cost of running a financial aid office. Utilization of products like StudentVerification.com will reduce cost and enhance quality of service.

CampusLogic specializes in supporting and streamlining financial aid office operations through interim staffing, project-based consulting and financial aid process outsourcing. Call CampusLogic at (602) 643-1300 or contact us online to learn about services that can reduce risk and cost while increasing the quality of your financial aid office.