NASFAA Members Share Remote Experiences, Best Practices During COVID-19 Outbreak – NASFAA
As the novel coronavirus continues to temporarily shut down institutions and move instruction online, colleges, universities, and their financial aid offices are having to adapt to a new reality for higher education — such as addressing students’ unique financial aid needs remotely, or with very limited staff on-site.
While some institutions have the capacity for the entirety of their financial aid staff to work remotely and assist students via email and social media, others have required that some employees rotate spending time in the office to answer phones and process mail — especially as some schools have yet to close.
For those offices that have gone fully — or mostly — remote, they are working each day to find innovative ways and workarounds to best serve students who need extra help. For example, one institution told NASFAA they are toying with the idea of using video tools such as WebEx or Skype in lieu of in-person counseling and advising sessions. That same school relayed it is also currently looking for ways to ensure phone calls coming into the financial aid office can be redirected to ring on staff laptops, or have phone messages immediately transcribed to email so staffers can respond to students quickly.