Solution Alleviates Workload, Allows More Time with Students

Like financial aid teams across the country, the team at The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology faced the challenge of a colleague's retirement, in this case their long-term Financial Aid Director. The financial aid staff also had recently updated their Student Information System, and their new SIS was working well for them. When the time came to choose a new third-party processor, the team looked for three key components in a service solution: operations assistance because of the recent retirement, regulatory compliance and the ability to continue working in their existing SIS.

The Seattle School chose a Work in Your System approach, also known as Remote Processing, which is offered by Global as an option for financial aid processing. Global helped evaluate a solution that would best fit The Seattle School’s needs, offering the back office functions the school’s team wanted while they continued to work in their SIS. With this solution, Global fills in where needed and provides reliable support for financial aid processing, including file review, document gathering, awarding and packaging, and Return to Title IV services.

The result is a partnership that lets The Seattle School spend more time advising students and focusing on student support, while Global takes care of day-to-day operations and provides operational and compliance assistance to the financial aid team. Over the last three years, Global has provided in-depth regulatory experience and made improvements in the processing of financial aid, giving staff peace of mind. Global continues to make recommendations to improve all processes while creating the most efficient service.

“Having the knowledgeable Global team by our side is invaluable to our school,” said Ligaya Good Avila, Academic Programs and Financial Services Manager for The Seattle School. “Having a team behind me that knows financial aid inside and out gives me peace of mind. Our partnership has allowed our financial aid process to be pretty seamless.”

The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology is a private graduate school and seminary that formed in 1997. The college offers immersive degree programs in counseling psychology, divinity, theology and culture. While staff focus on training the college’s artists, pastors and therapists, students focus on an academic, social and spiritual life. Degrees include a Master of Arts in Theology and Culture and a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology. In addition to graduate degrees, The Seattle School offers certificates and programs to prepare students to become community leaders.