 |
Volume 1
www.rccomms.com
|
Change is a constant in student financial services.
More than ever, business officers must stay abreast
of the potential effect legislative proposals may
have on student loans and Federal grants. And just
as a CPA explains the impact of income tax changes
on his clients’ returns, so, too, does the business
officer need to provide education and counseling to
her students on tuition payment options and student
loans.
This issue of e-Business Officer Update takes
a look behind the curtain of lenders’ marketing practices and demonstrates why you need to
find out what and how they are marketing to your
students.
We also hear from a leading business officer who
tells us how she has leveraged e-services to provide
one-on-one financial counseling to students with
great success.
Finally, new research has uncovered just how
valuable early tuition billing can be for your
organization.
I will be speaking on best practices in billing
communications at many state and regional business
officer conferences this spring; I hope to see you
at one of them!
Sincerely,
Ruth Griggs Fontana
Principal, RC Communications |
n
MARKETING
Swirling Legislative Changes and Preferred Lending
Partnerships: What’s Behind the Curtain?
This quarter’s legislative advancements and
executive office budget proposals to reduce interest
rates and increase minimum lending amounts on
subsidized student loans have left higher education
officers questioning the true value to their
students.
While controversial in its funding source, gradually
increasing the maximum award amount on the Pell
Grant will offer some help to stem the alarming
reduction in its coverage of college tuition costs,
which has plunged from 60% coverage in 1986 to
nearly half that amount in ’06 (Figure 1).
Historically, picking up the slack in this weakening
federal assistance has been the private lenders, who
have experienced a staggering 1042% increase in loan
volume over the past 10 years.1. Yet the
Institute for Higher Education Policy reported in
their December report that students are not just
taking on private debt to supplement their
federal grants and loans. Instead, the Institute
reports that as many as 47% of independent, private,
undergraduate borrowers had not even received
the maximum Stafford loan available to them.2.
-
Read full article |
|
n
COUNSELING
The
Need for
Education:
Providing
Objective
Financial
Counseling
to
Students
and
Parents
The
potential
impact
of the
legislative
proposals
to change Federal
grants
and
loans
makes it
more
imperative
than
ever to
provide
objective
education
and
counseling
to your
parents
and
students
on the
many
ways of
financing
a
college
education.
The
Institute
of
Higher
Education
Policy
stated
this
fact
bluntly
in its
December
2006
research
report
on
private
lending:
“The
need for
targeted
outreach
to
students
to
ensure
they are
receiving
comprehensive
information
about
the pros
and cons
of
private
loan
borrowing
is
critical.”1.
This
month at
the
NACUBO
Student
Financial
Services
Conference,
Ruth
Johnston,
Senior
Associate
Treasurer
of
Student
Financial
Services
at the
University
of
Washington
and her
Assistant
Director,
Sandie
Rosko,
conducted
a
session
on how
the
University
is
successfully
providing
education
and
financial
counseling
to its
students.
Says Dr.
Johnston,
“We have
an
educational
mission
as well
as a
financial
mission.
The
students
coming
to the
University
don’t
necessarily
know how
to
manage
money –
they
haven’t
been
trained
or
taught.
This is
an
essential
skill,
just as
learning
how to
write a
paper
critically.”
-
Read Full Article |
|
|
n
RESEARCH
The Early Bird Gets the Worm:
Business Officers Experience the Advantages of Early
Billing
With Information Comes Understanding
With Understanding Comes Comfort
With Comfort Comes Engagement in the Process
I penned this phrase last year to describe the
change in behavior that business officers must
affect in their constituents to enable them to use
new, electronic billing services.
Another behavior change that business officers are
affecting among their payers is not the way
bills are presented and paid but when bills
are presented and paid. And this behavior change is
reaping indisputably positive results.
RC Communications recently conducted quantitative
and in-depth studies of the billing practices of
independent, K-12 schools. We found that those
schools issuing their fall tuition and fee bills
early (before July 1) experienced many positive
outcomes from this practice. These schools tend to
have more efficient billing preparation (less time
spent and fewer FTE’s managing the process), they
spend less time answering questions from parents
(63% under 5 hours per week vs. 46% overall) and
they have a higher percentage of on-time payments
(50% report collecting 80-90% of payments at 30 days
vs. 42% overall)
-
Read Full Article |
|
|
n
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS:
Recent & Future
Ruth Griggs Fontana, Principal of RC
Communications, utilizes her expertise in
payment systems marketing to deliver new ways to
enhance customer communications around the
tuition billing process. She frequently speaks
at national, regional and state business officer
association conferences on her recently
published white paper, “Best Practices in
Billing Communications: Increasing Collections,
Reducing Costs and Improving Communications
through Enhanced Billing Services”.
New York State Organization of Bursars and
Business Administrators
NYSOBBA
2007 Conference
June 11, 2007
Niagara Falls, NY
Session Speaker
Michigan Association of Student Financial
Services Administrators MASFA
Third Annual MASFA Conference
May 21, 2007
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Session Speaker
Kentucky Association of
Student Receivable Officers
KASRO
2007 Meeting
May 2, 2007
Leitchfield, Kentucky
Session Speaker
Wisconsin Association of Student Business Office
Personnel
Administrators
WASBOPA
2007 Annual Meeting
April 23, 2007
Appleton, WI
Session Speaker
21st National College & University Business
Officers Conference
PDG II, Inc.
April 1-4, 2007
Palm Springs, CA
Pre-Conference Workshop Moderator and Keynote
Speaker
Session Speaker
|
|
|
n
WHITE PAPER
 In April 2006, RC
Communications published the white paper, “Best
Practices in Billing Communications: Increasing
Collections, Reducing Costs and Improving
Communications through Enhanced Billing Services”.
The white paper offers an overview of best practices
in paper and electronic billing and payment and the
results that could be obtained by implementing them.
Using the billing practices of leading financial
services and utilities companies as a guide, the
white paper demonstrates how to apply these
state-of-the-art techniques in an organization to
increase collections rates, reduce costs, and
improve customer satisfaction. Primary research
findings reveal the attitudes and usage preferences
of payers when these new paper and electronic
billing approaches are implemented. Secondary
research findings from some of today’s top billers
provide the basis of recommendations utilizing the
latest in electronic bill presentment and payment
techniques.
The white paper is the first of its
kind to present a comprehensive
study of paper and electronic
billing and payment services for
higher education institutions, and
is a must-read for all
administrators of higher education
tuition management services.
Yes, I would like to receive a copy
of the white paper
“Best Practices in Billing
Communications”
|
n
ABOUT
RC COMMUNICATIONS
RC Communications provides online and offline marketing and
communications consulting services to financial services, payment systems and higher education providers.
The firm offers practical marketing solutions to help organizations improve communications, reduce costs and
enhance relationships through strategically designed marketing programs.
RC Communications has a unique specialty in enhancing customer communications through the billing medium. We provide marketing insights to
organizations with traditional paper or newer electronic billing processes. By delivering better communication
through an organization’s highest response vehicle: the bill, organizations can enhance their customers’
experience, elicit positive action, and improve relationships.
|
|
|
 ©
Copyright 2007
RC Communications
All rights reserved |
|
