While most institutions use financial aid systems to award and distribute regular financial aid, that isn’t always the case with emergency aid. Usually, each student’s situation must be evaluated  to determine whether emergency financial help is warranted and if so, at what level. That process isn’t always built into the standard financial aid system—so institutions […]

College and university leaders manage large datasets that are compiled across people, departments and systems. Producing quality performance reports, institutional effectiveness measures, and academic data can be a challenge in today’s environment. In addition to maintaining reliable and accurate data, higher ed leaders are continually asked to do more work, with more depth—but without additional […]

In 2006, Troy University, a four-year public institution in Alabama, was writing thousands of refund checks and financial aid disbursements every semester across multiple campuses in Montgomery, Dothan, Phenix City and online, servicing more than 17,000 students. It was time-consuming, labor-intensive work for Troy staff, and students not only waited in long lines to get […]

According to a recent survey of auxiliary directors conducted by the National Association of College Stores, we know that the top reason (41 percent) for outsourcing the campus store is to eliminate operational headaches and simplify processes. Those are valid reasons. Managing a retail operation is a complex business—and quite different from other higher education […]