June 2014 Webinar SmartSessions
Crafting a Social Media Strategy for Your Financial Aid Office
Your students are regularly using social media to communicate. Do you know how to use social media effectively in the financial aid office? Many financial aid offices have been slower to build a social media presence due to concerns about student privacy or resources. Aid offices that have successfully deployed social media platforms have reported vast improvement in their two-way communications with students. This webinar will review the steps needed to plan and build a social media presence for your aid office on Facebook or Twitter and explore specific strategies for improving two-way communications with students.
Specific topics include:
- Pros and cons of implementing Facebook or Twitter in the aid office
- Crafting a strategy
- Writing effective content
- Turning regulatory language into effective social media content
June 3rd @ 12 PM, Eastern time
Crafting a Social Media Strategy for Your Financial Aid Office
June 12th @ 3 PM, Eastern time
Crafting a Social Media Strategy for Your Financial Aid Office
Presenters: Liz Gross and Linda Peckham
Financial Literacy: What You Need to Know to Educate Your Students
Financial education helps student’s 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 to craft your own program
- Strategies for engaging students
- · Components of a financial literacy program
June 12th@ 12 PM, Eastern time
Financial Literacy: What You Need to Know to Educate Your Students
June 18th@ 3 PM, Eastern time
Financial Literacy: What You Need to Know to Educate Your Students
Presenters: Tasha McDaniel and Michiale Schneider
Life after Default
The consequences of loan default can be devastating to your borrowers. Attend this session to learn how loan default can affect the student’s credit profile and what you can do to help them. Borrowers who default on student loans not only damage their credit, but face having their tax refund and other benefits withheld, and the possibility of wage garnishment and legal action. These penalties can last for years, making it difficult for them to get a loan to buy a car or home, rent apartments and in some instances, secure employment. However, once a borrower has defaulted, they haven’t completely run out of options. This session will share what happens when borrowers default and explore the options available to them afterwards.
Specific topics covered include:
- · What happens when borrowers default
- · Options available to borrowers after they have defaulted
June 10th@ 3 PM, Eastern time
Life after Default
June 18th@ 12 PM, Eastern time
Life after Default
Presenters: Tasha McDaniel and Keyimani Alford
Doing More with Less: Finding Balance
If your budget was cut, would you know how to find other resources to maintain service to students? Attend this mini-session to learn how to cope with budget cuts by looking elsewhere for resources. During these rough economic times it’s common to be asked to cut a certain percentage of your budget. What comes to mind when you’re told to “do more with less”? We’ll provide several suggestions for finding untapped resources and invite you to share success stories and tips for budget-stretching ideas at your institution.
- Specific topics covered include:
- · Aligning your strategies with your resources
- · Uncovering hidden resources – thinking “outside the box”
- · Tapping into staff strengths
June 25th@ 12 PM, Eastern time
Doing More with Less: Finding Balance
Presenters: Michiale Schneider and Keyimani Alford
Good is Good, but Why Be Average? Tips for Improving Customer Service
- Today’s financial aid office is expected to provide quality customer service to students. Do you know how to ensure your office is always providing optimal service to students and parents? The best way to improve customer service techniques is through an assessment of your current service level and the creation of specific goals for improvement. This participatory session will show you specific ways to improve customer service results.
- Specific topics covered include:
- · Supporting institutional policies while maintaining customer satisfaction
- · Understanding ways to resolve customer complaints
· Learning to take the H.E.A.T.
June 17th@ 12 PM, Eastern time
Good is Good, but Why Be Average? Tips for Improving Customer Service
June 26th@ 3 PM, Eastern time
Good is Good, but Why Be Average? Tips for Improving Customer Service
Presenters: Michiale Schneider and Tasha McDaniel
Citizenship Status and Title IV Aid: Confirming Eligibility and Ensuring Compliance
Citizenship status confirmation can be time consuming and confusing. Do you know how to evaluate the various ISIR comment codes and confirm eligibility by obtaining the correct documentation?
This session will provide guidance on how to understand the various ISIR citizenship comment codes, clarify which citizenship status categories can result in Title IV aid eligibility, and show you how to obtain appropriate documentation to ensure compliance before awarding and disbursing aid.
Specific topics covered include:
- · Evaluating eligible and ineligible student categories
- · Deciphering the various citizenship match comment codes
- · Understanding acceptable documentation for each category
- · Moving through secondary confirmation
June 17th@ 3 PM, Eastern time
Citizenship Status and Title IV Aid: Confirming Eligibility and Ensuring Compliance
June 24th@ 3 PM, Eastern time
Citizenship Status and Title IV Aid: Confirming Eligibility and Ensuring Compliance
Presenters: Keyimani Alford and Linda Peckham
How to Prepare for an Audit or Program Review
Do you feel stressed when it’s time for your annual A133 audit? Would being selected for a program review cause you anxiety? This session will explain what you can do to be well-prepared and proactive, and limit your liability. You’ll leave this session with a more organized approach and a thorough understanding of audits and program reviews.
Specific topics covered include:
- The types of audits
- Possible triggers
- Proactive preparation
- What to do when you’ve been selected
- What to expect
June 11th@ 12 PM, Eastern time
How to Prepare for an Audit or Program Review
June 25th@ 3 PM, Eastern time
How to Prepare for an Audit or Program Review
Presenters: Michiale Schneider and Keyimani Alford
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
- Making corrections
June 11th@ 3 PM, Eastern time
Verification: Four Simple Steps to Completion
June 24th@ 12 PM, Eastern time
Verification: Four Simple Steps to Completion
Presenters: Michiale Schneider and Tasha McDaniel
Satisfactory Academic Progress: Moving Students in the Right Direction
To be eligible for FSA funds, a student must make satisfactory academic progress (SAP), and schools must have a reasonable policy for monitoring that progress. Learn the basics of the SAP policy and how it affects you. This session will review the requirements so you can respond to your students’ needs and move them toward successfully completing the program for which they are receiving aid.
Specific topics covered include:
- Understanding institutional requirements
- Identifying student eligibility requirements
- Appreciating the differences between qualitative and quantitative components
- Exploring consumer information requirements
June 5th@ 3 PM, Eastern time
Satisfactory Academic Progress: Moving Students in the Right Direction
June 26th@ 12 PM, Eastern time
Satisfactory Academic Progress: Moving Students in the Right Direction
Presenters: Keyimani Alford and Tasha McDaniel
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.
June 4th@ 3 PM, Eastern time
Great Lakes Default Management Tools: Learn, Access, Implement
Presenters: Tasha McDaniel and Keyimani Alford
NSLDS undefined I Made It In, Now What?
NSLDS provides comprehensive data that you can use to verify financial aid history and counsel borrowers about repayment strategies. Do you know how to find the information quickly and efficiently? If you are not familiar with its functionality you might miss important tools and overlook information. This session will show you the NSLDS functionality and highlight the core components of this powerful database.
Specific topics covered include:
- Understanding the purpose of NSLDS
- Demonstrating NSLDS functionality
- Reviewing Awarding Parameters
- Decoding Symbols and Panels
June 10th@ 12 PM, Eastern time
NSLDS undefined I Made It In, Now What?
June 19th@ 3 PM, Eastern time
NSLDS undefined I Made It In, Now What?
Presenters: Keyimani Alford and Michiale Schneider
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.
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
June 19th@ 12 PM, Eastern time
Assessing your Leadership Style: Know Thyself and Plan Accordingly
Presenters: Linda Peckham
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
