Campus Feature
Right: Posing for a photo in Siena’s new “One Stop Shop” Financial
Services office are (clockwise from left): Doug Betz ’08, Lori Kosarue ’03,
Annette Sanderson, Linda Pancone, Stacy Schaffner, Mary Kruse ’05,
and Chris Howard.
SHU’s New Financial
Services Office Helps
Improve Efficiency
Mary Kruse ’05 helped turn a classroom project
into a whole new way of doing business this fall
at Siena Heights University.
Kruse has been a fixture on the Siena Heights
campus for more than 30 years, currently serving
as the university’s controller. A student in the
Graduate College’s Organizational Leadership
program, Kruse decided to take a close look at
how the university’s Financial Aid and Business
offices operated as part of a class project. The
result led to the formation of the Office of
Financial Services, which opened in August
on the Adrian campus.
“It will be one place for the students to come
instead of two places (Business and Financial
Aid),” Kruse said of the new arrangement, which
she will oversee. “It’s going to be a much more
streamlined process for the students. And only
one place to call.”
For years, Siena Heights had the Financial Aid
and Business offices separated. Even reporting
to two separate departments. Financial Aid staff
dealt more with students and external financing
options, while the Business operation handled
the payment/accounts receivable side of not
only students, but the entire university’s budget
expenditures. Many times, students and parents
had to pinball from one office to another,
depending on the task.
Making Good Sense (and Cents)
“The staff even felt sometimes they were running
in circles and never completing anything,” Kruse
said of the old system. “For my 30-plus years that
I’ve been here, this is the way we’ve always done
it. Is it the best way? Not necessarily. So let’s
streamline those processes.”
Kruse said the “one-stop shop” approach will
hopefully alleviate some confusion that has occurred at times as students and parents tried to
figure out which office they needed. Relying on
national research, trends and the cooperation of
leadership and the staff members, the process of
merging offices occurred over the summer. After
both offices were remodeled and updated to
handle the new demands, Kruse said employees
in those areas were cross-trained so they could
know everyone else’s roles.
“As a group we looked at all the policies and
procedures that we had,” Kruse said. “We worked
in teams to address a certain area. We wanted
a more efficient process. There was so much duplication of duties.”
Under the new setup, one office is staffed to
handle more of the “external” functions, including financial aid packaging and awarding. The
other office is for more “internal” duties, performing more “behind the scenes” processing
and house accounts. Still two physical offices,
but now one team.
“It will be a much easier process, so students get
awarded quickly and get set up on the correct
payment plan,” Kruse said. “There’s one person
they can go to now instead of two offices, and
that’s exciting.”
8
Reflections Winter ’11
Because of increasing government regulations
and restrictions, Kruse said it is even more important to simplify the financial aid process for
students and their families.
“We have to be able to help a student finance
their education,” she said. “We want them to be
able to work through the whole process so we
can keep them here. We don’t want financial to
be the reason why they are leaving Siena.”
This summer the university also unveiled a new
online payment system for students. This allows
a student to pay electronically via a credit card
or e-check.
“Of course they can come in and pay us with a
check if they want to do that,” Kruse said. “We’re
just providing another option.”
Kruse said new federal regulations regarding the
student direct lending process recently went into
effect, and the new Financial Services Office is
helping guide students through this new process.
She said the initial feedback from this new setup
has been positive, and should only get better as
her staff settles into their new roles.
“We’re all going to work together as a team,”
Kruse said. “It’s a new concept, but we all work
well together. Will there be growing pains? Yes.
But I think all of them can be worked on and accomplished. I think we will get to where we need
to be. I know it will all work out fine.” u