Practical Tips to Making Financial Aid Administration Easier

By: Dotti Davidson, FAS Consultant

Financial aid offices are tasked with juggling student support, compliance and administration of funds, all within complex systems that impact the entire institution. As a consultant, I have served many schools and and have seen firsthand how small process improvements can make a big difference. At times, there is a knowledge gap regarding the many tools and strategies available to make the job of the financial aid department easier. Here are a few tips that could make day-to-day operations more efficient and effective. 

Leverage Your Phone System for Better Customer Service 

Financial aid offices often struggle to manage high call volumes, and during peak processing times, this can lead to frustrated students and staff.  

At one school, students frequently complained about unanswered calls because the system routed all inquiries to a single front-office assistant. When we reviewed the setup, the team believed a more efficient system wasn’t possible with their existing technology. 

However, many phone systems offer round-robin call distribution, which automatically rotates incoming calls among available staff instead of overloading one person. By restructuring the setup into three call groups—ensuring calls were evenly distributed and using me as the last resort before voicemail—we significantly improved response times. 

What a difference it made in ensuring the phone was answered on the first attempt! Reviewing and optimizing your phone system settings can streamline communication, reduce frustration, and enhance the student experience. Ensure you’re utilizing your phone system capabilities to deliver a better student experience.  

Tame the Email Beast: Managing High-Email Volumes 

For many financial aid offices, managing the constant flow of emails—especially during peak seasons—can quickly become overwhelming. Without an efficient system, inboxes fill up, response times slow down, and student frustration grows. 

At one school, the general financial aid inbox had over 600 emails in the general financial aid inbox waiting for responses. To tackle this, we implemented a structured approach, dividing and assigning emails to three dedicated response teams.  Each team had a specific number of emails to address by the end of the day and staff members signed their responses, so we could track progress.  

This clear process with shared accountability allowed the team to reduce response times and gained insight into workload distribution and long-term performance management. The following summer, we responded to emails the same day due to the improvements made in our processes and customer service.  

Improve Financial Aid Office Workflow: Leverage Technology 

Student information systems are often underutilized and there is typically a heavy reliance on manual processes that can be automated. Systems such as Banner are incredibly powerful – like a Ferrari- but without a full understanding of the capabilities it can be a bumpy ride.  

A process that I know can be frustrating is Transfer and Monitoring and it can be streamlined with a simple adjustment. A great way to track students that have received funds at another school is to enter a fund placeholder on the award maintenance page (RPAAWRD). For example, if they received loans and/or Pell grant, enter the fund code TLOAN for loans and TPELL for Pell with a $0 placeholder and corresponding comments in RHACOMM. 

Ensure the information access indicator remains unchecked so this does not create confusion for the student, but the staff can see the fund. When staff are looking at the students’ awards, this will allow them to quickly know the student is not under awarded.  This ensures that students do not receive funds that are in excess of their annual limits.  

At another school, I worked with a financial aid employee responsible for reconciliation. When I asked her to complete it by the end of the day, she was visibly overwhelmed. As we walked through the process, we uncovered that she was manually exporting data into Excel and using VLOOKUP to reconcile records. She was surprised and relieved to learn that Banner had built-in functions to automate the process entirely. As we explored other workflows, we uncovered additional inefficiencies that could be easily resolved with system settings. 

• Scholarships were being paid in full and should be pro-rated; thus, they were manually adjusting scholarships. We then fixed the set-up in Banner (RFRMGMT).  

• Another school was manually reporting federal work-study earnings to COD, unaware that Banner could handle the process using campus-based earnings (REPCBER) and extract process (RERCB1B/RERCB1A).  

• A scholarship meant to be fall-only was split between fall and spring. By adjusting the fund disbursement page (RFRASCH) we ensured the full award posted in the fall term.  

The key takeaway? If a process in your financial aid office is being done manually, there’s a strong chance your SIS has an existing function to automate it. Regularly reviewing system capabilities can save time, reduce errors, and allow staff to focus on higher-value tasks. 

Focus on Solutions 

Financial Aid Departments have a lot to balance to keep the system efficient and accurate and the reality is that many schools are unaware of the opportunities to streamline work incrementally. I have found many schools implement a process and get stuck in the rut of “we have always done it this way.” Don’t lose your curiosity; stay current with the new enhancements to your student information system. And remember if you are processing something manually, there is probably an automated process for that!  

Partner with FAS and make things easier for your financial aid team.