NACAC Presentation: NCAA Division III Admissions and Financial Aid

I came in a little late and when I arrived they are presenting on what might flag a school to be reviewed with regard to their awarding of scholarships due to their Financial Reporting. Here are some notes.

31% of institutitions have been reviewed at the most basic level

25%- reviewed again to see if there are violations

10%- found in violation due to leadership scholarships, secondary violations (isolation, not meant to provide competitive advantage).

First violation in 6 years has been released with regard to awarding practices.

Admissions can consider athletic participation for admissions. But if there is a formula used, you must remove the athletic component before configuring for scholarships.

When you have athletic personnel, they are not permitted to have direct impact on a Financial Aid Awarding process. So if you have an awarding formula, the coach can not be involved.

Coaches are not allowed to sit in on any public or private committees that review for Financial Aid Awarding.

Typical violations include distinguishable pattern of awarding, communication with personnel regarding institutional gift aid.

Secondary violations penalties are education, corrective action, and administered by the enforcement committee.

The NCAA has issued a 4yr report overall and to individual institutions about their possible reviews and performance.

Interesting session and feels good to know we are doing things right.

E-mail Success?

I will post an update on the good, the bad, and the ugly of our Implementation, but I wanted to jump back into blogging by writing what I think is my first success story.

I sent my first few e-mails to students using our new Bulk e-mail feature (which is SO EASY!). The first was to general inquiries. That Monday we had a 10% jump in applications for that week, and about a 4% read rate after 24 hours. To me, that’s a success for inquiries.

The next message was to out of state students, normally a tough nut to crack. Again this was only to inquiries so they were hit the second time, but this time it was about a grant we offer. 6% after 24 hours, 11% after a few days. Again a success.

Finally, I sent my first e-mail to admits encouraging them to join our social network and our Facebook group. 22% read rate, a few new adds to the Social Network, and 17 to the Facebook Group. We also had 4 inquiries through our Counselor on Call system (texts and instant e-mail replies).

We’re trying to diversify and I think we’re making progress. But are we? How do you quantify success?

Parents in Recruitment

While I’m waiting for our test environment to be ready, I’ve been spending some time wearing my Admissions Counselor hat. College Web Editor posted some results of a parent survey done by Noel-Levitz. Check it out here: At first I just looked over the survey results, then did a LOT of highlighting and thinking. Then, after composing my thoughts (watch for steam), I saw that she posted some notes from the presentation. Coincidentally her notes from the session mirrored a lot of what I was going to say, and in a much better way. So, here are the notes from the presentation at EduWEB.

I would like to make note of one thing though. They may have discussed this in the actual session, but after many application reads and discussions with co-workers I have noticed a trend. I have seen several applications in very neat handwriting with a sloppy signature that could not possibly be written by the same person. Or, maybe a mom calls your office and says “I was filling out my son’s application and accidentally marked him as a girl”. Or, maybe they are asking questions during the school day about submitting an online app and happen to mention they’ll have to get back to you with the clarification you’re looking for. When asked if they would complete an admissions application on behalf of their student, about 60% of the parents polled say that they wouldn’t do it and wouldn’t give it any thought. Really? What about my coworkers in higher education… Do you think this number is accurate? Maybe I’m jaded, or over-dramatic, or both. But I think more than 40% have done it or at least considered it. So, what say the Higher Ed crowd?