Streamlining Student Services Kurt Eisele-Dyrli, Larry Cass and Gretchen Bonfardine Tuesday March 26, 2013 University Business and Nelnet Business Solutions

From the invitation “It seems no matter what the economic climate, we’re always being asked to do more with less. This is especially true in higher education, as budgets become tighter each year and funding is reduced. But there are strategies you can employ to battle these challenges.” “Larry Cass, Director of Student Accounts at SUNY Binghamton, will be our featured speaker. We’ll hear about Binghamton’s criteria for adopting electronic payments, focusing on the need to adhere to PCI compliance regulations, reduce waste, increase efficiencies, and streamline outdated processes that weigh down both staff and students.”

Notes from the Q and A Both Larry Cass and Gretchen Bonfardine had extensive experience in student financial aid before their current position. SUNY Binghamton replaced their current locally written and licensed software administrative components in The primary motivation for moving to “eCommerce” was to remain competitive with the service offerings of other universities. The goal was to also provide “24/7” services, which meant moving to online self-service. Because of the PCI (Payment Card Industry) Data Security Standards, the University did not store credit card data. Using a payment service is an alternative. The University has found difficulty in obtaining, using, and securing transactions via in bound and out bound ACH or wire transfers because of accurately validating routing numbers and EFT data.

Notes from the Q and A (2) The University prefers payments from outside the U.S. to be done by credit cards. The University does use peerTransfer though some countries do not permit these transactions so wire transfer must be used in those cases. (peerTransfer an authorized bank account in each country and authorization to transfer money to the U.S.). The University does implement payment plans. The University bills (enters a charge transaction for) all students; the charge is eliminated (perhaps reversed) if the student files a tuition waiver and it is approved and recorded. When automating student accounts, the University implemented support of Point of Sale where transactions are added to the student’s bill. The University uses Nelnet’s automatic payment plan. Cass said many students do not understand “automatic” in this context.

Notes from the Q and A (3) The University would like to have single signon so each of the POS transactions could be done using it; currently multiple logins are required. The University began its transition in 2001 and added Nelnet services in It took “120 days” to setup, test, and implement student accounts. The implementation of (Ellucian?) student accounts began in 2006 and was completed in The University if not using the Ellucian portal and is considering several including CampusEAI (but not uPortal). Cass commented that they had to drop credit card processing since Ellucian “took it out” because of PCI compliance. The University does not allow “called in” credit card transactions, but would process one received by facsimile. The University does not print bills except for third-party payments (payments made by others for students). Implementation of online student accounts should follow online registration.

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