December 2013 SmartSessions
Assessing your Financial Aid Social Media Plan: Measure what Matters
Your financial aid social media plan needs to start with measurable outcomes. Financial aid officers often struggle with how to measure the impact of their social media platforms in meaningful ways. Effective assessment requires that aid offices isolate their goals in advance: building community, increasing followers, or just providing timely financial aid information. Each goal is important but requires unique tools for measurement.
Specific topics include:
- What to measure – volume, reach, engagement, or influence
- Techniques for measurement
- Refining your strategy based on results
- Practical tips from the field
December 10th @ 3 pm Eastern time
Assessing your Financial Aid Social Media Plan: Measure what Matters
FERPA: Interpreting the Intricacies
Protecting student privacy is paramount. Understand what needs to be included in your school’s Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act(FERPA) policy and gain a working knowledge of how to ensure FERPA privacy requirements are met in real-world scenarios. Consider this course not just an introduction to the basics of FERPA, but also an in-depth guide to understanding the rights of students and their parents regarding student education records. The materials presented have been vetted by our privacy specialists to ensure that you get the most accurate and comprehensive assistance available.
Specific topics covered include:
- Review of final rules
- Student and parent rights and FERPA
- Right to access, review, and amend an education record
- Compliance, complaints, and enforcement
December 17 @ 3 pm Eastern time
FERPA: Interpreting the Intricacies
A Guide to Great Lakes Default Prevention Tools
This session provides an overview of the Great Lakes tools available to help you reach out to delinquent borrowers and manage your cohort default rate. Learn how to use our Borrowers at Risk report and delinquency letter tool to connect with former students and steer them away from default on FFELP, put, and Direct loans. The training will fully explain report access, settings and options, and subscriptions. You'll also learn how different schools use the tools to tackle different prevention challenges.
December 19th @ 3 pm Eastern time
A Guide to Great Lakes Default Prevention Tools
Cost of Attendance Essentials: A Data-Driven Approach to Balancing Student Needs and Debt
Do you know how to develop a COA budget that meets your students’ needs and encourages reasonable debt? A data-driven approach to budget- building can help. When you build a reasonable budget that is grounded in economic facts, you can help your institution maintain compliance, offer flexibility, and encourage responsible borrowing for successful repayment.
Specific topics covered include:
• Items to be included in the COA
• Data sources to build a reasonable COA
• Situations when Professional Judgment may be appropriate
December 18th @ 12:00 pm Eastern time
Cost of Attendance Essentials: A Data-Driven Approach to Balancing Student Needs and Debt
January 2014 SmartSessions
Your First Day as a New Director: 5 Things you need to do to Ensure Success
Are you a new Financial Aid Director or aspire to be one? New aid directors face unique challenges in their first days on the job. This session will help you successfully transition to your new role.
Presenters:
Janet Dodson, Associate Director, Tuition Exchange, and Past NASFAA Chair
Gail Holt, Dean of Financial Aid, Amherst College
Specific topics covered include:
- · First day essentials: security updates and reports to review
- · Assessing your office culture – your team and your peers
- · Identifying roles and responsibilities
January 15th @ 12 PM, Eastern time
Your First Day as a New Director: 5 Things you need to do to Ensure Success
Assessing your Leadership Style: Know Thyself and Plan Accordingly
Aid directors are often hired for their Title IV expertise but need to quickly develop their natural leadership skills. Do you know what your leadership style is and how to use it to your advantage?
This webinar will help you uncover your style preferences and to work with others in ways that achieve success for the office. Using the Myers - Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment, participants will develop a better understanding of their leadership strengths -- as well as areas in need of improvement -- and use that knowledge to improve communication, build teams, and manage conflict. Registrants for this webinar will be offered the opportunity to complete an MBTI assessment prior to the event.
Presenters:
Janet Dodson – Associate Director, Tuition Exchange, Past NASFAA Chair, and Certified MBTI Counselor
Sara Vancil – Assistant Director of Financial Aid and Scholarships, The University of Kansas, and Certified MBTI Counselor
Specific topics covered include:
- · Explanation of the four MBTI preference scales
- · Overview of MBTI whole types
- · How MBTI preferences inform leadership styles
- · How MBTI preferences influence communication
January 28th @ 12 PM, Eastern time
Assessing your Leadership Style: Know Thyself and Plan Accordingly
Final Student Loan Rules: What the Changes Mean for You and Your Students
New final rules issued in November 2013 resulted in important changes to the student loan rules, including the modifications to both the FFEL and Direct Loan programs. We’ll give you a general overview of the regulatory changes and provide you with an insider’s guide to the negotiated rule making process.
Specific topics covered include:
- · Minimum Loan Period for Transfer Students
- · Modifications to FFEL Program and Direct Loan Program Regulations
- · Participation Rate Index Appeal for Cohort Default Rates
January 16th @ 3 PM, Eastern time
Final Student Loan Rules: What the Changes Mean for You and Your Students
January 23rd @ 12 PM, Eastern time
Final Student Loan Rules: What the Changes Mean for You and Your Students
Verification: Four Simple Steps to Completion
Get the right dollars to the right students, on time. We’ll show you the easiest steps to completing verification based on recent policy changes and review common issues that arise.
Specific topics covered include:
- · Determining who needs to be verified
- · Reviewing required documentation
- · Resolving conflicting information
- · How to understand IRS transcripts – and when to ask for more information
January 23rd @ 3 PM, Eastern time
Verification: Four Simple Steps to Completion
January 30th @ 12 PM, Eastern time
Verification: Four Simple Steps to Completion
Dependency Status Dilemmas
Are your students confused about how to answer dependency questions on the FAFSA? When should you consider a dependency override? We'll review ways to help your students while maintaining compliance.
Specific topics covered include:
- · Does a student's self-sufficiency make them independent?
- · How does the IRS definition of a "dependent" differ from the FAFSA?
- · Who is considered to be a "Homeless Unaccompanied Youth?"
January 8th @ 12 PM, Eastern time
Dependency Status Dilemmas
January 22nd @ 3 PM, Eastern time
Dependency Status Dilemmas
Professional Judgment Perplexities
Professional Judgment is helps you target funds to students with exceptional need. But Professional Judgment principles must be applied wisely and responsibly in order to be effective and compliant.
This participatory session reviews complex case studies to show how you can help students get the aid they need by making adjustments to either the expected family contribution (EFC) or the student’s cost of attendance.
Specific topics covered include:
- · Why and when to use professional judgment
- · Permissible actions and required documentation
- · Common scenarios – loss of income, changes in assets, extraordinary expenses
- · Maintaining a professional judgment policy
January 30 @ 3 PM, Eastern time
Professional Judgment Perplexities
Great Lakes Default Management Tools: Learn, Access, Implement
Staying in touch with borrowers who are struggling with repayment can help you minimize your cohort default rate. Great Lakes tools can help you with these important outreach efforts. This session will show you how to use our Borrowers at Risk report and Delinquency Letter Tool to connect with former students and steer them away from default. You’ll also learn how schools have successfully tackled specific default challenges using our tools.
January 29th @ 3 PM, Eastern time
Great Lakes Default Management Tools: Learn, Access, Implement
Financial Literacy: What You Need to Know to Educate Your Students
Financial education helps students make wise decisions about money and credit. You can create and tailor your own financial literacy programs by mastering basic concepts. This train-the-trainer session will give you all of the essentials you need to provide financial education to your students. You’ll be able to take what you’ve learned and create your own presentation to educate your students so that they make wise financial choices both during school and after graduation.
Specific topics covered include:
- · How credit scores are generated
- · How different types of loans – including student loansundefinedimpact credit history
- · How to craft your own program
January 21st @ 12 PM, Eastern time
Financial Literacy: What You Need to Know to Educate Your Students
January 28th @ 3 PM, Eastern time
Financial Literacy: What You Need to Know to Educate Your Students
