The University West Georgia

Business & Finance Division

Student Financial Services Assessment

FY 2006 - 2007

Departmental Mission
Departmental Mission – The mission of Student Financial Services is to provide quality support and information to students in the assessment and collection of all student fees, the disbursement of all student balance checks, and the fiscal management of all student financial aid programs including federal, state, and private funding.

Departmental Statement of Goals to Asses, Process to Assess These Goals, and Assessment Results

Goals

1. Pursue a departmental name change from Student Financial Services to Bursars Office.
2. Create an informational guide for our Vocational Rehabilitation students that would include instructions for processing the required paperwork, bookstore charges, billing and payment information for each term.
3. Continue to be more aggressive and increase in-house collections.
4. Continue to assess customer satisfaction. Identify ways to improve upon communication of policies and procedures to the campus community.
5. Successful implementation of TouchNet Paypath.

Assessment Process

1. Due to the naming similarity of Student Financial Services to Financial Aid, our students and parents tend to be confused as to the mission and responsibility of each office.
2. The Accounting Assistant who is responsible for working with our vocational rehabilitation students will be able to development the informational guide.
3. Email notification is being utilized, in addition to regular notices being sent through the mail, as a final attempt of notification prior to turning an account over for outside collection.
4. Customer Satisfaction Survey’s are completed on a regular basis to identify areas where improved customer service is needed. We also have an on-line rating card to allow our customers to rate our service at anytime. A comment box is located in the Office of Student Financial Services to allow customers the opportunity to rate our service at the time it is given.
5. Training on TouchNet Paypath has been completed with a conversion date of July 5, 2007 however the ongoing assessment of the implementation will take place during the first few months of FY 08.2

Assessment Results

1. If we are allowed to change our name, we should see less frustration from our students and parents as to which department can provide them with the necessary information.
2. The informational guide will give more information to our students which will result in fewer complications and less frustration for this group of students.
3. The utilization of final email notifications has already decreased the number of debtors we have referred to an outside collection agency. We should continue to see a reduction in the number of referrals as we continue to utilize this method.
4. Additional customer satisfaction surveys will indicate whether or not we are serving our customers effectively and whether or not we are communicating in the most effective manner. We will review any on-line rating cards that are submitted and take action where necessary.
5. TouchNet Paypath will be successful once students and parents are familiar and acclimated to this new feature.