2022 | Page 2 of 3

3 Reasons You Need a Student Accounts Office Assessment

September 29, 2022

Most colleges and universities are finding themselves more tuition driven than ever. Many institutions, especially small private colleges, are heavily enrollment dependent. In a time when resources are running thin and students’ needs are more crucial and demanding than ever, institutions are more reliant on delivering services efficiently and effectively to attract and retain students.

As the final stop in students’ experiences, the student accounts office must be firing on all cylinders to serve students and meet a myriad of other demands, including institutional and regulatory compliance. An accurate and defensible plan to advance your student accounts office begins with data – lots of data. Leaders and decision-makers need information about staffing resources, technology needs and a detailed account of compliance-related risks.

The best way to collect all this information is with an Office Assessment. If you’ve never conducted an Assessment – or it’s been more than three years since you have – here are three reasons you need to complete a Student Accounts Office Assessment as part of your Strategic Plan.

Reason 1: Creating a detailed understanding and baseline about how your student accounts operations is functioning

Would you set long-term retirement savings goals without looking at your current financial situation? No. You’d review your savings and retirement accounts. You’d consider your assets. You’d likely reach out to a financial advisor.

Think about your student accounts office the same way you think about retirement planning. You shouldn’t make any major forward-thinking plans, or even current assumptions, about the office without having a sense of its strengths and weaknesses. Knowing your starting point will help you determine how to realistically capture some easily attainable short-term wins and achieve your long-term goals.

Reason 2: Measuring the functional condition of your student accounts office, documenting future needs and gaining efficiencies

Assessment outcomes will help you make the smartest investments for your institution and direct resources where they will have the greatest impact. Objective Assessment data enables you to fortify areas that are performing well and improve those operational aspects that may be deficient or just need some shoring up. Accounting for both ensure that overall operations meet your standards, serves your students and sets you up for success while also creating efficiencies and potential cost savings.

Reason 3: Taking the guesswork out of staffing and succession planning

Conversations about future staffing often can be emotional and even political. Data collected through an Assessment removes the emotion from planning. It provides the objective baseline needed for your decision making, empowering the student accounts office to thrive in coming years regardless of retirements or other staff departures.

Those are three formidable reasons to conduct a Student Accounts Assessment. But deciding to act is just the first step. Next, you decide how to gather and synthesize all this information in a meaningful way.

How to Conduct a Business Office Assessment

Many assume that an Assessment can be conducted by campus staff. After all, no one knows your shop better than those closest to it. Let us offer a word of caution – your staff already has a lot of responsibilities to manage. Adding something of this size and scope to their to-do list easily could lead to burnout and result in an Assessment project that is started, but never finished.

More importantly, the best way to collect unbiased information is to work with a partner who has a proven track record of analyzing and documenting client’s needs and establishing priorities—like FAS Student Business Services.

Our team of consultants has a wealth of experience and specific areas of expertise that they use to evaluate your operations from the front-facing student engagement to back-office processing and everywhere else in between. With a variety of formats and options you can choose the right one for your campus.

No matter which option you choose, by the end of the assessment, you’ll have a comprehensive and objective view of your student accounts office and the information you need to build an informed multi-year strategic plan. FAS can help there, too. We’ll not only make customized recommendations, but we’ll also help you leverage that information into an actionable plan. You can be confident that your operational goals roll up into and support your institution’s strategic plan.

Still Pointing YOU in the Right Direction

August 24, 2022

fas logo refresh

Financial Aid Services (FAS) introduces its brand refresh connecting its rich history and legacy with its exciting and innovative future. Below is a behind-the-scenes look at our refreshed makeover and what it means for our client experience.

Hit Refresh

Satya Nadella, CEO at Microsoft, describes this concept best in his book Hit Refresh when he writes about leading culture change at Microsoft. The refresh function on your browser is quite sophisticated. We’ve all encountered this at the least opportune times. Your web browser locks and the screen freezes, unable to render the content you were searching for. You hit the refresh icon on your browser. This is where the sophistication occurs. Contrary to popular belief, the refresh function does not completely overhaul the page. Its functionality quickly determines everything that is working well on the page and knows to keep that functionality in play. It identifies the 2-3 components that need to be updated and addresses those components only so the page renders correctly. (You can now impress your IT colleagues with that bit of knowledge.) We thought about our brand refresh through the same lens. We didn’t want a major departure from our previous brand and logo. There are so many strengths and a rich history associated with the brand. We didn’t want to lose that. We simply identified the 1-2 components that we wanted to update, and make more relevant, namely the navigational icon.

Providing Guidance and Direction

Since our founding, FAS is deeply committed to guiding colleges and universities through the higher education landscape. To represent that vision, the compass rose has been a component of the FAS brand and logo. Today, most of us rarely use a compass. Instead, we depend on GPS navigation for our guidance and direction. As a result, we refreshed our brand and logo from the compass rose to a familiar GPS navigation icon you might see on your Apple or Android device. The arrow points up and to the right which is the direction our eyes travel when we recall something factual, trusted, and familiar. The upper right quadrant is often the desired location when consultants categorize data elements in a strategic quadrant. As consultants, we really enjoy that symbolism. The logo is not a major departure from our past. The meaning remains the same. The new logo is a natural evolution of how we represent our commitment to helping guide our clients through today’s challenging landscape.

Blue

Colors convey meaning. Navy blue has been a constant component of the FAS brand and logo. Blue evokes emotions of trust, responsibility, and loyalty. Blue is also associated with honesty, commitment, clarity, positivity, and creating order. With this meaning, it’s no wonder why statistically blue is most people’s favorite color. These adjectives align so well with our mission and values too. We wanted to accentuate our brand and logo with more shades of blue. Blue sneakers. Blue jeans. A clear blue sky. Crystal blue ocean. We’re pretty big fans of the color.

How This All Began

The brand refresh was a culmination of two events that have been months in the works. The first was refreshing our mission and core values once our new CEO, Robert Heil arrived at FAS this spring. This was one of Robert’s first priorities. While remaining closely aligned to our founding mission, the new mission statement was updated to reflect today’s higher education landscape and the expanding strength and capabilities at FAS. This was an energizing process for our company. The second was a website redesign project. As we began updating content and wireframes for the new website, it sparked consideration to refreshing the brand and logo. After months of internal discussions with team members across FAS and focus groups with key stakeholders, we chose to start the makeover with a very thoughtful and inclusive process. Literally each team and every team member inside FAS had input, feedback and involvement in the process which added tremendous value to the project.

Connecting our Past with our Future

In 1991, FAS was founded around the dining room table of David and Gay Gray. In short time, colleges and universities around the country were lining up to tap the services provided by FAS. Over the span of the next 31 years, FAS has become a highly respected and trusted partner to over 1,800 colleges and universities. Higher education looks a lot different than it did when we started in 1991. Managing financial operations, enrolling students, and meeting student expectations is not getting any easier. Every day we are motivated to keep finding innovative ways to bring our incredible culture and values to life in ways that will benefit our clients and the students you serve. We are making important investments in people, technology and systems that will enhance your experience with us as clients and most importantly generate the outcomes that we all want for your students. Higher ed faces fierce headwinds right now. Digital transformation is occurring at a pace we’ve never seen before. However, our consultants and thought leaders are uniquely positioned to make a profound impact for our clients and your students. And we start every day with a very strong and clear sense of that mission, vision, and purpose.

Our Mission and Values

While the look of our website has changed, the strong commitment to our mission and core values remains unchanged. Those ultimately define who we are and what we do.

Our mission is to empower colleges and universities to strengthen financial operations, optimize enrollment and enhance the student experience.

Achieving our mission starts with our culture and values. These values define who we are today and who we aspire to be. They are the core operating principles for our company and guide how we make decisions and work together to achieve our
mission.

Integrity
Relationships Matter
Diversity & Belonging
Innovation
Excellence

We see these 5 core values represented in our logo with a bold simplicity and sophistication that inspires our team and reminds us daily that our work makes a significant impact on our clients and the students they serve.

Your Brand Matters Most To US

At FAS, we believe your financial aid office and student business services should be activated as your top advantage – generating greater enrollment, easier operations, and elevating your brand. We are grateful to the over 1800 clients and partners who have traveled this journey with us. We look forward to the next three decades together.

Thank you for your continued partnership. We highly value the trust and confidence you place in FAS.

About FAS

Financial Aid Services (FAS) has served higher education for over 31 years. Located in Atlanta, Georgia, FAS provides consulting, staffing, outsourced processing services to assist institutions with improving operational efficiency, student satisfaction, and regulatory compliance in financial aid and student business services. FAS’ accomplished team averages 28 years of experience and has a combined 1,600 years of higher education experience. With clients in 49 states, FAS has successfully served over 1,800 institutions nationwide. The Company’s extensive experience combined with industry leading expertise and focus on superior client outcomes, enables FAS to deliver lasting results to its clients and the students they serve. Visit www.FinancialAidServices.org for more information.

Press Contacts:
Ken Garrett
Executive Vice President

Win-Win Approach to Dealing with Difficult Students

August 22, 2022

One size does not fit all when it comes to working with students and their needs surrounding how to finance and pay for their education. Every student interaction brings unique circumstances, capabilities, and concerns to the table. While in many cases questions are easily answered and issues resolved, other times students or parents are not able to meet institutional requirements or are dissatisfied with the answers they’ve received.

Dealing with difficult customers is not unexpected particularly at the start of a new academic year. Whether it’s financial aid packages that don’t meet expectations, not being allowed to register for classes because of an outstanding balance, getting conflicting information from different offices, or just not being able to reach institutional staff by phone or email, this stressful time of year can impact student retention, outstanding receivables, or just engender bad feelings about the institution.

At a time when quality service is more than an expectation, staff and supervisors face the wrath and ire of many customers. Depending on the time of year and institutional deadlines or organizational structures, these customers are not only students and their parents, but may extend to prospective students, alumni, faculty members, or even colleagues in other institutional offices. With enrollment, financial and workforce pressures on colleges and universities, maintaining service delivery standards and satisfaction can challenge both staff and senior leadership.

To maintain quality service standards, institutions now must also factor in needs related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) that have moved into the forefront of the higher education experience. Treating your students and constituents with a consistent approach should not mean that every experience and interaction is similar. At the same time, it’s important to respect and note how differences in culture, knowledge, and experiences may require different styles and techniques in service delivery and counseling.

That’s why it is important that we “listen to hear” what our customers are saying and how we subsequently respond to their needs. Not only is it critical to be timely and accurate in responding, but it’s also vital that someone owns the customer’s issues and concerns. Too often, failures to listen, understand, and answer these concerns creates escalated conflicts and complaints.

Using every customer interaction to anticipate other questions/concerns and educate students on what to do (and how to do it) can lead to more on-time payments, higher satisfaction levels, reduced complaints, and increased student success.

Financial Literacy – An Essential Part of Student Success

July 22, 2022

Providing students and their families with the skills and tools to understand personal finance and money management has largely fallen to colleges and universities. While fourteen states have enacted legislation mandating personal finance training in high school, more than two-thirds of the country still lacks any formal training or education programs for students or parents.

Many people don’t know where to turn for guidance or direction when they need assistance in completing a FAFSA to apply for financial aid, how to save for college or use payment plans to help finance an education, or even how to create a budget. Both traditional students and older adults returning to school often seek out resources to figure out how to pay for college and, later, to repay their student loans.

By default, colleges have become the last resort for acquiring this knowledge. Identifying and managing financial issues has become a key element in the recruitment and retention of students. Admissions recruiters, financial aid counselors, and student account representatives often are thrust into roles as financial counselors, even if their own knowledge is lacking. With a glut of available information on how to pay for a college education and limited resources to digest and disseminate the data, staff may be ill-equipped to offer time-consuming counseling to students and families while trying to deal with the other aspects of onboarding and maintaining enrollments.

Best practice institutions have developed separate offices to assist students with financial wellness education or have partnered with firms that provide web-based programs and knowledge-driven modules to help them learn the various aspects of personal finance, from student loans and credit cards to budgeting and credit scores.

Institutions need to have an executive sponsor for these programs and place ownership under a single office or group of individuals who will prioritize providing access to personal finance programs and resources.

If an institution does not want to create a separate department, financial wellness programs could be hosted by numerous departments, including but are not limited to financial aid, bursar or student financial services, enrollment management, career services, housing, new student orientation, and dean of students. Admissions, alumni relations and development offices help maximize program exposure and provide a value-added service for prospective and former students and interested parties.

Because students often are more comfortable talking with their peers, a program that incorporates trained student employees to share financial information can help build trust and confidence while also building a triage process to determine when counselors or other full-time staff need to handle more complex issues.

Providing a well-rounded education for today’s students requires a holistic approach to helping them achieve personal success, both now and tomorrow. Offering financial wellness resources will not only help students reach their personal goals – it also may give them the tools to pay their bills in full and on time!

Perkins Loan Closeout – Assignment Extension

May 22, 2022

As part of the wind down of the Perkins Loan Program, the Department of Education (ED) requires institutions to assign to the Department all Perkins Loans that have been in default for more than two years. Unless the school has documentation that these borrowers are making payments toward their Perkins loan debt, you are required to assign all Perkins Loans in default for more than two years to the ED. The previous deadline of June 30, 2022, has been extended to June 30, 2023.

ED provides guidance on the Perkins loan assignment process in the Perkins Assignment and Liquidation Guide. ED will provide a school with the reason why any loan is rejected for assignment. If the school can resolve that issue(s), the loan can be resubmitted for assignment. In instances when an issue cannot be resolved and assignment is not possible, the school must purchase that loan.

Federal regulations state that ED may require a school to reimburse its Federal Perkins Loan Program Fund for the entire amount of the outstanding principal balance, plus any accrued interest on loans ED determines to be unenforceable.

ED reminded schools that although the Perkins Loan Program is winding down, they remain obligated to ensure all collection procedures, outlined in the regulations, are being followed.

Your Bursar Is Leaving—Now What?

April 22, 2022

It is inevitable: all employees eventually move on to a new job, a new campus, or a long-awaited retirement. Turnover in a key position such as bursar or student financial services director is both a challenge and an opportunity. Continuity is vital so no important tasks are overlooked. You may be lucky enough to have an experienced staff member primed to take over. Or you may be ready to rethink the role and would rather fill the position temporarily.

Step 1: Prepare for the departure

When you receive any employee’s notice, have them identify and document critical functions and current processes. A long-serving bursar might maintain detailed mental checklists without physically documenting this information. Your institution’s official process documentation was likely accurate at one time, but is it still? Procedures have likely evolved over time and critical details could be missing.

Don’t let decades of knowledge walk out the door with the departing employee.

Update process and procedure documentation

Have your departing employee gather all relevant business process and procedural documentation. Ask them to update instructions, document all processes, and include any helpful context. This should include screenshots and system navigation tips. The overall objective is to document processes and the logical thought process they follow for troubleshooting and researching questions.

Have the employee create or update checklists that account for their daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly (or semester), and annual tasks. The lists should include both internal and external deadlines and recommended dates to begin the work. Key contacts and any necessary external systems or website links should be included. It is good practice to ask other employees who participate in business office functions (i.e., assistant/associate bursar, account representatives, functional analysts, etc.) to make their own list(s) to cross-reference.

If you find that your organization does not have up-to-date written cash handling or accounting processes and procedures, make documenting these activities a key priority.

Transfer system access

Consider any necessary updates to system access and security protocols. Identify all software and third-party logins used and establish an alternative user or new primary administrator. Make sure you test all login credentials prior to the departing employee’s last day. Cross-reference these items with the checklists and procedure documents to verify all access points are addressed. System access will likely include the student information system, accounting software, banking accounts, and third-party service providers such as payment processors and credit card vendors. Consult with your IT department or service provider to ensure all security protocols are considered and addressed.

Don’t forget to close out the departing individual’s access.

Transfer point of contact

Consider the departing bursar’s key relationships, such as impacted campus partners, vendors, and bankers. It is important to inform them that their point of contact will be changing. Avoid leaving them with outdated contact information or no one to call about unfinished items. Who will they reach out to in the short term if needed? These individuals or firms can serve as a bridge and help you through the transition.

Step 2: Assess your business office operations for potential gaps or areas of weakness and opportunities for process improvement

Next, consider key functions to identify areas for improvement. You may have staff leaving for jobs they perceive to be easier or less stressful. While there are many root causes for this perception, in the day-to-day operations of a business office, staff frequently attribute their greatest stress to chasing deadlines constantly, inefficient processes, outdated or underutilized technology, and being short staffed. It’s important to uncover and proactively address such challenges. Assessing these with an open mind can help position your institution to grow and thrive.

These questions are a starting point for identifying opportunities to improve your business office functions:

When was the last time business policies and procedures were evaluated or updated?
Are reports and data requests challenging to produce in a timely manner?
Does this office have control of its data and system processes or is it dependent on the IT department or others within the institution? Are you getting the most out of third-party vendors and managed services?
Are you leveraging technology and other tools effectively?
What do departing employees consider to be the most challenging tasks, and why?

Step 3: Determine what you truly need from your student business office

With a better understanding of your current operations, it’s time to assess the staffing and skills your institution truly needs—not necessarily what will maintain the status quo. By their nature, student financial service operations must coordinate closely with other offices, notably student financial aid and the registrar, to ensure good service and regulatory compliance. In addition to accomplishing the day-to-day critical tasks proficiently, your staff should be capable of providing timely reporting and updates so senior administrators can make informed, strategic decisions and provide the best experience for students.

Turnover provides the opportunity to revisit the qualifications and experience that are needed to maximize the value of your business office operations. Do you need accountants, collectors, customer service representatives, or technical support staff? Maybe you need components of all these fulfill the institution’s mission and serve its students.

Step 4: Evaluate the value proposition of alternative strategies

Finally, consider if this staffing change can serve as a catalyst to explore alternatives to continuing what has been done the same way for years. A targeted assessment may be the key.

Consultants are experienced professionals who easily identify quick wins and recommend broader initiatives to bring about longer lasting value. They also help develop the roadmap for navigating the transition. Sometimes, the forced change caused by turnover is an optimal time to move your processes forward and set up your institution for long-term success.

Transition and change in your business office can be challenging. Whether you are losing a staff member, or you want to be proactive in addressing opportunities for improvement, FAS’ Student Business Services can help. We are experienced in performing operational or targeted assessments, developing a strategic plan, and identifying new opportunities for institutions to achieve their goals.

Have Administrative Holds Become a Hot Button Issue?

March 30, 2022

Institutions of higher education have traditionally used sanctions such as preventing future class registrations and withholding academic transcripts when students owe delinquent account balances. Depending on the schools’ policies, or sometimes state law or regulations, such sanctions may be triggered for any amount due or at a higher dollar threshold that is formula-driven or set arbitrarily.

Short of referring these debts to an outside collection agency or other entity to recover outstanding balances, these holds have provided colleges and universities with a low-cost and easy-to-implement remedy to force students to pay in full or reach out for assistance.

However, recent coverage in the media (for instance, Hechinger Report and Inside Higher Ed) focusing on the large number of students whose financial problems have forced them to delay completion of their educations has raised attention to use of these types of sanctions. A 2020 study by Ithaka S+R on impacted students with “stranded credits” portrayed a scenario where financially-challenged students had little, if any, opportunity to receive their degrees. They could not continue their educations or transfer credits because of outstanding student debt which, in some cases, amounted to only a few dollars.

The issues raised by transcript withholding led the California legislature to enact a law in 2020 prohibiting all institutions from blocking transcript requests because of outstanding balances owed. Washington and Louisiana have since enacted comparable legislation and a number of other states are considering doing so. At the same time a bill was proposed recently in New York, both the State University of New York (SUNY) and City University of New York (CUNY) systems stopped sanctions using transcripts.

In addition to complaints from current and former students, schools now may be subject to complying with new laws and regulations governing their internal operations. So, what should colleges and universities be doing today to mitigate the impact?

Some ideas to consider include:

Review existing policies and procedures governing use of holds and restricting student services. Are you restricting transcripts or registration for any amount or reason (i.e., tuition vs. parking or library fines) that money is owed? Consider your current dollar threshold for service restrictions and determine how, or if, it has been reviewed or changed in recent years (besides pandemic management).
Involve your institution’s attorney in the review process. Having counsel look at or help create an appeal process that is consistently managed can ensure a transparent and fair practice. Creating differing rules or interpretations for every student situation not only can lead to criticism, but could create the perception of a UDAAP, which refers to unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices by those offering financial services (including higher education), which is illegal under the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010.
Weigh whether your state or district has implemented or is considering legislation or new rules. Work with your government affairs office or lobbyist to take the temperature on how institutional restrictions are viewed by legislators and regulators. Educate officials on what the impact of eliminating holds might be on the institution.
Investigate opportunities to create and use debt reduction or forgiveness programs. Resolving small balance debts can be a “win-win,” eliminating minor amounts owed, while creating a positive experience for a student whose continued attendance results in additional revenues earned. Student success stories not only can breed positive press for an institution, but may even result in additional enrollments and donations.

At a time when colleges and universities are questioned as to whether they are sufficiently accessible or affordable, using service restrictions that block students from continuing or using their educations will remain under close scrutiny. How a school deals with this issue will not only impact collections but could also influence future revenue streams and enrollments.

FAS Appoints Robert Heil Chief Executive Officer

March 14, 2022

Financial Aid Services (FAS), the leading provider of compliance consulting, interim staffing, and outsourced processing services for financial aid and business service offices at colleges and universities in the United States, announced the appointment of Robert Heil as Chief Executive Officer.

Heil succeeds FAS founder, David Gray, who will remain on the FAS Board of Directors.

Heil brings more than 25 years of higher education and executive experience as a university administrator, and highly respected consultant and thought leader. Most recently, Heil served as Chief Revenue Officer at Ruffalo Noel Levitz (RNL), leading business strategies creating significant value and impact for clients and employees.
“I am excited and honored to join our team of world class consultants and thought leaders who demonstrate an unwavering commitment to excellence and client success”, said Heil. “I’m guided by two things. First, is bringing our incredible culture and values to life in ways that allow us to achieve our mission and vision. Second, is investing in the people, technology, and systems to continually improve our client’s experience and outcomes. As thought leaders and industry experts, we at FAS, are uniquely positioned to support our clients in how they manage and allocate funding to make higher education more accessible and affordable for all students.”

Of his ongoing role at FAS, founder David Gray said, “I look forward to supporting the current team and someone as accomplished, experienced and dedicated to higher education as Robert. It will be a pleasure to continue helping with strategic initiatives and offering uncompromising service to colleges and universities to help them provide more students the ability to attend higher education institutions.”

“I’ve dedicated my career to higher education and creating impact for campuses and the students they serve. I bring that same passion to advancing the mission of FAS. I’m convinced FAS has the talent, leadership and innovation to help our clients navigate today’s higher education landscape”, said Heil.

For more information, please contact Ken Garrett, FAS Executive Vice President at kgarrett@financialaidservices.org

About FAS
Financial Aid Services (FAS) has served higher education for over 30 years. Located in Atlanta, Georgia, FAS provides consulting, staffing, processing and assessment services to assist institutions with improving operational efficiency, student satisfaction, and regulatory compliance in financial aid and student business services. FAS’ accomplished team averages 28 years of experience and has a combined 1,600 years of higher education experience. With clients in 49 states, FAS has successfully served over 1,800 institutions nationwide. The Company’s extensive experience combined with industry leading expertise and focus on superior client outcomes, enables FAS to deliver lasting results to its clients and the students they serve. Visit www.FinancialAidServices.org for more information.

Safeguarding Students’ Information Now Requires Stricter Oversight

February 26, 2022

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a final rule on December 9, 2021, amending the customer information safeguard requirements under the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), also known as the “Safeguards Rule.” Since 1999, the GLBA has set the standards for maintaining customer data for financial institutions, including colleges and universities that participate in the Title IV federal student aid programs.

While the revised Safeguards Rule took effect on January 10, 2022, schools will have until December 2022 to implement most of the required changes in the rule. Some of the notable mandates include:

Concentrating program oversight under a single qualified individual rather than shared by a team or group of employees. While this oversight likely will be centered under an institution’s information technology department, look for the school’s chief information security officer (CISO) or chief information officer (CIO) to be the responsible party.
Ensuring that information security programs are based on a written risk assessment that looks at “foreseeable internal and external risks to the security, confidentiality, and integrity” of any consumer (student) information held by the institution. Written documentation is now a mandatory requirement under the Rule.
Designing information security programs to control assessed risks that include eight specific types of safeguards:
Monitoring and testing of internal controls and procedures regularly to protect against actual and attempted hacks of information systems.
Overseeing and assessing service providers when contracting for outside services. This will include actual periodic assessments of vendor systems by the institution.
Reporting annually to the institution’s board about its information security program and compliance with the updated Safeguards Rule.

Because higher education institutions are frequent targets of hackers and victims of data breaches, a strong and well-understood infrastructure and program to maintain and protect student information is critical. These programs require institution-wide accountability. It is vital that all employees be aware of changes and take responsibility to protect personal data.

Suspicion of Malware Suspends Federal System Access

February 1, 2022

Two institutions have recent had their access to all federal databases and websites suspended. In both instances, a user attempted to log in to a secure federal website from an older computer whose antimalware and anti-virus software were not current. The U.S. Department of Education’s security system detected “key logging” (recording a computer user’s keystroke activity, often to gain fraudulent access to passwords and other confidential information).

The U.S. Department of Education has specific technical requirements for computer hardware and software that interface with federal systems.

Officials from both colleges have contacted offices within the U.S. Department of Education and the Federal Student Aid Customer Support requesting their access be restored. The reactivation process has several levels of approval from multiple authorities and could take an extended amount of time to complete. Without required access, financial aid administrators cannot exchange any electronic files with federal processors or make record-level updates. Likewise, business officers are unable to
access the G-5 system to draw down federal funds.