Persona: Financial Aid

Overview:

IntelliBoard uses a persona-based approach to deliver customized data analytics solutions tailored to the unique needs of financial aid. By focusing on the specific responsibilities and challenges that financial aid professionals face, IntelliBoard ensures that the most relevant data is available, helping financial aid teams make informed decisions to enhance learner support, optimize fund allocation, improve compliance with regulations, and ultimately ensure that resources are directed where they are needed most.

Role Summary:

Financial Aid professionals are responsible for managing the distribution of financial resources to support learner access and success. They play a crucial role in evaluating learner eligibility, distributing funds, and ensuring compliance with financial regulations. By analyzing learner financial data and monitoring trends, financial aid teams can identify at-risk students, intervene with targeted support, and help ensure equitable access to education. Through data-driven insights and real-time reporting, financial aid professionals can make informed decisions to optimize resource allocation, improve operational efficiency, and enhance student outcomes.

Key Responsibilities:

• Monitor Financial Aid Eligibility:

  • Track and review all learners’ financial aid eligibility based on federal, state, and institutional guidelines.

  • Ensure ongoing compliance with financial aid requirements to maintain eligibility.

• Award and Distribute Financial Aid:

  • Allocate financial aid resources including grants, scholarships, and loans according to individual learner needs and available funding.

  • Regularly review financial aid awards to ensure accurate distribution based on updated learner information.

• Identify At-Risk Learners:

  • Identify learners who may be at financial risk due to academic performance or changes in personal circumstances.

  • Predict future financial aid risks by monitoring trends, allowing for proactive support or intervention.

• Up-to-Date Reporting:

  • Ensure accurate and timely submission of financial aid reports for institutional audits and federal compliance.

  • Maintain real-time records of financial aid to inform decision-making and meet external reporting requirements.

• Analyze Financial Aid Trends:

  • Examine financial aid distribution patterns to determine if resources are being used efficiently and equitably.

  • Track the correlation between financial aid and learner retention or success to identify areas for improvement.

• Communicate with Learners:

  • Maintain open communication with learners and families regarding their financial aid status, including any changes or additional documentation needed.

  • Provide ongoing financial literacy resources and advice to help learners understand their aid packages, manage loans, and make informed financial decisions.

Challenges

• Identifying At-Risk Students:

  • Difficulty in identifying learners who are at risk of losing financial aid due to academic or personal challenges early enough to provide intervention.

  • Limited time and resources to manually track and monitor learners' eligibility across a large volume of cases.

• Balancing Data Management and Learner Support:

  • Challenges in balancing the administrative workload, such as data entry, reporting, and compliance tasks, with providing personalized support to learners.

  • Difficulty in analyzing large volumes of financial aid data and translating it into actionable strategies to support learners.

• Providing Timely Communication:

  • Difficulty in maintaining timely and effective communication with learners regarding their financial aid status, deadlines, and updates.

  • Limited capacity to provide individualized financial advice to all learners, leading to gaps in support.

• Data Overload:

  • Difficulty in interpreting large volumes of data and translating it into actionable insights.

  • Multiple programs are required to access needed information, analyze the data, then take action on the data.

  • Delays in verifying information can affect the timely disbursement of funds.

Common Questions

• How many tuition dollars are at-risk of being lost this semester?

• How do I predict which students have a high D/F risk who may be at risk of losing scholarship?

• How do I track online course attendance for federal financial aid?

• What scholarships are at-risk of being lost this semester?

Datasets:

These datasets are identified by IntelliBoard as providing critical information to Financial Aid. The Financial Aid Org Role Template includes these datasets. Organization Administrators my provide additional datasets or may not include all the datasets below. Contact your administrator for questions regarding dataset availability.

First Submission Monitoring Dashboard:

The First Submission Monitoring Dashboard combines two datasets, both narrowed to users with a learner role in the course. Activities included in the datasets are assignments, forum/discussions, and quizzes.

First Learner Submission (Assignment, Forum/Discussion, Quiz): The Learner First Submission identifies users with learner role with an active enrollment in a course who have submitted an assignment, forum/discussion or quiz in a selected time period. Users who have not submitted to one of these activity types is not included in the dataset. This datasets is often used as a base for Census reporting.

• Purpose: To track the initial engagement of learners by monitoring their first submission to key activities (assignments, discussions, quizzes) as a marker of academic participation.

• Use: Financial Aid professionals can use this dataset to monitor participation levels, which can serve as a basis for census reporting and identifying early engagement issues, helping to drive retention efforts.

Missing Learner Submission (Assignment, Forum/Discussion, Quiz): The Missing Learner Submission identifies users with learner role with an active enrollment in a course who have not submitted an assignment, forum/discussion or quiz to a course. Users who have submitted an assignment, forum/discussion or quiz to the relevant course are not in this dataset. This datasets is often used to encourage learners to complete an item to confirm financial aid.

• Purpose: To identify learners who have not yet submitted required assignments, discussions, or quizzes, which can be used to track academic engagement and ensure compliance with financial aid requirements.

• Use: Financial Aid teams rely on this dataset to identify learners at-risk of losing aid due to inactivity, prompting outreach and intervention to ensure continued eligibility.

Learner Success Dashboard:

Primarily used for those working to support learner success, this Dashboard highlights the learners who's total course average is below a 59, between 60-70, or over 80. Identify which learners are at-risk, their last dates of system login, course access, course average, missing submissions and late submissions.

Learners Average Course Grade: This chart displays the average of the learner's current course grades. For example, if a learner is taking 5 courses, the bar represents the average grade of those 5 courses.

• Purpose: Displays the average of each learner's current course grades across all enrolled courses.

• Use: Financial Aid professionals use this data to ensure that learners meet Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) standards, a requirement for continued financial aid eligibility.

Learners Average Course Grade Distribution: Represents number of Learners with average grade across learner's courses distributed across grade threshold: 0-59 %, 60-69 %, 70+ %

• Purpose: Visualizes the distribution of learners' average grades across threshold ranges (0-59%, 60-69%, 70+%).

• Use: Financial Aid teams can prioritize outreach to learners in lower grade ranges to address academic challenges and provide support to ensure compliance with aid requirements.

Learner Course Progress Monitoring: The Learner Course Progress Monitoring report shows learner’s score, progress and activity in courses. This version is intended to monitor academic progress, and uses the following scale: 0-59%, 60-69%, and70+% as risk benchmarks.

• Purpose: Monitors learner progress, activity, and grades within courses.

• Use: Financial Aid professionals use this dataset to flag learners who are falling behind, ensuring that they meet SAP requirements and maintain their financial aid.

Learner Activity Submission Progress: This tabular report displays the learners' submitted activities to courses, including the activity type, activity score, completion (or submission) date and when the activity was graded (if applicable).

• Purpose: Provides a detailed record of learners' submission activity, including the type of activity, score, submission date, and grading date.

• Use: Financial Aid teams use this dataset to track engagement by confirming that learners are submitting required coursework, ensuring eligibility for ongoing financial aid.

User Course Enrollment Verification:

Leverage the User Course Enrollment Verification dataset to confirm users system-level details and their corresponding course enrollments. This dataset can be used as the Distribution List within the Notification Creator. Grey columns represent system level information; blue columns represent course level information.

• Purpose: To confirm the accuracy of user enrollment details and ensure alignment between system-level data and course enrollment information for compliance and reporting purposes.

• Usage: Financial Aid professionals use this report to verify that learners are enrolled in the correct courses, ensuring no discrepancies that could affect financial aid distribution or compliance.

Last/Never Learner Submission (Assignment, Forum/Discussion, Quiz):

The Last or Never Learner Submission identifies users with learner role with an active enrollment in a course and their last submission to an assignment, forum/discussion or quiz. Users who have not submitted to one of these activity types is also included and flagged as "Never". This datasets is often used as a base for Attendance reporting.

• Purpose: To track learners' most recent or absent submissions to core activities, enabling registrars to identify learners at risk of disengagement or academic failure.

• Usage: Financial Aid teams use this dataset to monitor learner participation for attendance reporting, ensuring that learners remain engaged and eligible for aid.