Creating a Professional Development and Human

Creating a Professional Development
and Human Development Roadmap
for Yourself and Your Staff
Michael J. Bennett, Associate Vice President
Financial Assistance Services, St. Petersburg College
Session Description
• Provide a comprehensive sample professional development roadmap
in Excel format for immediate customization for your office
• Examine the human development traits necessary for a career in
financial aid administration
• Building a “Financial Aid Family”
St. Petersburg College
Financial Assistance Services
• 32,500 students, 9 campuses
• Established in 1927, Florida’s first community college
• 2001 – first two-year college to offer 4 year degrees (25%)
• 70% Independent, 30% Dependent
• Financial Aid stats
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Financial Aid applicants – 42,000
Financial Aid recipients – 24,000
% of enrolled students who receive financial aid – 67%
Disbursed - $168 M (Stafford Loans - $92 M)
• 59 FAS staff – 47 full-time, 12 part-time and 10 FWS students
SPC FAS – Org Chart
SPC FAS –our team!
SPC FAS – 17 systems!
SPC FAS – Outsourcing
• Blackboard
• Call Center
• ProEd
• Work files for Verification, SAP Appeals, Pell Grant and Direct Loan reconciliation
• $89,000 per year
• i3 Group – Default Prevention
• Outbound phone calls to delinquent borrowers
• Online portal for students
• faTV
• Online financial aid videos available 24/7
• Embedded on financial aid site on most pages
• Updated continuously for new regs/rules/yearly updates
Leadership
What is a leader?
• Someone with a vision and passion
• Leaders have the ability to influence
and motivate others to do their best to
accomplish any task, goal or project
Financial Aid leaders are willing to fight
for long-standing financial aid principles
and for what’s best for financial aid
students and staff
Difference between a leader and a manager
Leader
Manager
• Has Vision, thinks globally
• Inspires co-workers
• Empowers people
• Administers
• Relies on control
• Uses established policies
• Questions established procedures
• Takes calculated risks
• Is problem solver
• Weekly Lync calls?
SPC FAS – Waterskiing Metaphor
Leading and “Following”
• Wherever the leader goes, the follower goes
• If the leader steers the boat into an area where there are 3 feet reeds, the
following can:
• Let go of the tow line – On your own in the middle of the lake!
• Become a better skier – ski out beyond the boat’s wake, avoiding the reeds
• I’m looking for good water skiers!
SPC “growth and success” initiative
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Moving from “Evaluation” to “Growth and Success”
How you can grow
Direct ongoing feedback
How do we maintain work\life balance?
How do we recognize, appreciate and trust you?
How do we “make a difference” for the students we serve?
SPC FAS – PLUM TREE MODEL
Ideas for Roadmap
Wrap up meetings
 What were challenging issues?
 What could improve our services?
 What went well?
 Who should be recognized for their efforts?
Training and Professional Development
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FAS New Employee Orientation – 150 activities for first 2 weeks
67 SPC Skillport courses
30 ProEd Solutions courses and assessments – FREE
22 NASFAA University courses – online and self-study - $ 300 to $ 500 per course
Ongoing webinars
• FSA – Training and Assessment – 3 FSA Coach Curriculums, 1 Assessment
• 12 areas of default prevention
• 17 FA Data Systems to master
Training & Professional Development –
roadmap (continued)
• 54 FAS Policies and Procedure manuals reviewed and updated yearly
• 28 other resources
• Internal training (bi-weekly) developed by FA leadership and Staff – Participation stored in Access
database
Ongoing Half-hour on line Lync followed up be hour long in person
• Conferences, Regional and New Aid Training past 5 Years – 2-page written report
- Full Conferences – 103, Daily Conference – 54, Workshops - 45
• Presentations will be placed on FAS shared drive for easy access by all
Training/Outreach Events
Roadmap examples
NASFAA Training
Policies and Procedure Manuals – 54
What You Should Be Reading!
• Online feeds
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• NASFAA News
• Chronicle of Education
• American Association of
Community College
• Achieving the Dream
• Lumina
• National Association of
University Business Officers
• Institution feeds
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Books
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Orbiting the Giant Hairball
Gordon MacKenzie
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to
Take Action
Simon Sinek
American Higher Education in Crisis? What Everyone Needs
to Know
Goldie Blumenstyk
Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of
Talent
Sydney Finkelstein
The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly
Important Goals
Chris McChesney Shawn Covey and Jim Huling
College Disrupted
Ryan Craig
SPC FAS – Travel Expenses - $ 35,000
Relationship Building
STEPS TO ENSURE SUCCESS
• Manage the President and other superiors in Administration
• Share your Professional Development Roadmap
• Invite them to meetings
• Don’t be afraid to communicate your successes, no matter how small
• Form direct relationships with other offices
• Send follow-up “Thank You” notes when and where appropriate
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FAS Core Beliefs
• We believe that a student should have a clear career goal and a
Learning Plan
• Activities
• Complete My Learning Plan
• Distribute Learning Plan buckslip
• We believe that students should do their very best in their classes,
be aware of support systems to help them, and be fully informed
of what happens when they do not do well academically.
• Activities
• SPC Staff - SAP and Academic Standing Training
• Students – Show them Self-Serve SAP Screen and SAP on FAS Web site
FAS Core Beliefs (continued)
• We believe that students should learn and understand the
financial aid process and know the importance of filing and
registering on time and reading and responding to important
email
• Activities
• Smart Start
 SLS class presentations
 Large group presentations
• We believe that students should avoid student loans if possible.
When borrowing, they should borrow as little as possible
• Activities
• Debt & Default Prevention sessions
• Large group presentations
• Distribute iontuition buckslip
FAS Core Beliefs (continued)
• We believe our First Generation students need extra help and attention on how
to navigate student services and plan for college expenses
• Activities
• All staff will make an extra effort to make a personal connection with First Generation students
• Staff will provide students with their business card for future questions or help
Outreach
• Outreach events include:
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Smart Start
FAFSA Nights
Welcome Back events
SLS classroom presentations
Debt & default management presentations & events
FASFAA, SASFAA & NASFAA presentations
(Florida, southern and national financial aid associations)
• Staff trainings
• Many, many more…
Outreach (continued)
• Employees enter outreach events into a master database
• 2013-14: 217 events reaching 8306 people
• 2014-15: 172 events reaching 9986 people
• 2015-16 so far: 71 events reaching 4335 people
Tampa Bay Student Loan Consortium
• St. Petersburg College
• Saint Leo University
• National Aviation Academy
• Stetson Law
• State College of Florida
• University of Tampa
• Everest University
• Keiser University
• University of South Florida
• USF – St. Petersburg
• Eckerd College
• Hillsborough Community College
2015-16 Communications
• Website
• 136 changes
• 454,188 visits
• 12,006 faTV videos watched
• Social Media
• 5 Facebook posts
• 136 tweets
2015-16 Communications, continued
• Printed collateral
• 14 types (107,557 copies)
Achieving the Dream
Student Financial Empowerment Project
• $25,000 grant will be used to enhance existing It’s MY FUTURE! efforts
• On campus Welcome Back events – 54 events over 2 years
• Benefit – where to go for answes
• Speed dating events – 54 events over 2 years
• Benefits – completed Learning Plan, knowledge of anticipated student loan debt and monthly payment
amount, iontuitionTM registration and where to go for answers
• Presentations to graduating students – 8 events over 2 years
• Benefits – knowledge of student loan repayment and where to go for answers
• Give-aways
• Keytags
• Squeezies
• USB drives
• Scholarship
• SPC will offer one $500 scholarship per term
• Up to five entries per student per term
2014 Top 5 conditions by paid amount
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Hypertension (high blood pressure) - $4.2 M
Hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol) - $3.5 M
Nonspecific Gastritis/Dyspepsia (heartburn & related conditions) - $2.29 M
Diabetes - $1.9 M
Depression - $1.5 M
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Care and Feeding of FAS Staff
• Fight for Higher Salaries!
• Resources to do their job – Computers, iPads, FWS student
• Working from home
• Schedule flexibility
• Family FIRST!
• We like to EAT!
• We like to CELEBRATE!
• We work hard, and we play hard!
• Important things in life happen on a “relationship” level
Important Conversations with Staff
What do you like about your job?
What do you like about the college?
What is ONE thing you would like me to change?
How do you feel about …..
• Our Work Environment and Campus Culture
• Shared Ideas, Training and Knowledge
• Communication with each other, campus\district, students
• Respect, Accountability, Responsibility
OUR FAS FAMILY
Did we make you smile today?
Did we make you smile today?
Professional Development - Leadership
• Wayne Kruger
• FASFAA Past-President & New Aid Officer Workshop - presenter
• FABSA State Meeting – Federal/State update
• SASFAA Secretary
• Todd Smith
• Leadership St. Pete
• FASFAA Regional Workshop & FABSA State Meeting – presenter
Professional Development - Leadership
• Lee Ann Wolfenden
• NASPA (Student Affairs) – presenter
• FASFAA Executive Board – Conference Chair
• Kim Phillips
• NASFAA 2013 Gold Star Award received by FASFAA for incorporating Clock
Hour programs on Executive Board in collaboration with USDOE/Florida
Department of Education, can be used by other state associations
• FASFAA Executive Board – Clock Hour Committee Chair & Conference Chair
BIO
• Michael Bennett – Associate VP, FAS
• Employed in the education field for 40 years, 36 years in higher
education
• Worked as a high school English teacher, Guidance Counselor,
coach, Admissions Representative, College Counselor, Adjunct
Professor and Financial Aid Administrator
• Employed at Gloucester County College, Monmouth University,
New Jersey Department of Higher Education, Brookdale
Community College – all were “Union” environments
• Consulted at over 20 institutions
• CORE VALUE – What’s Best for STUDENTS?
Promoting SPC/Access to higher education
• Michael Bennett – Associate VP, FAS
• NASFAA
• National Chair, served on Board of Directors – 10 years
• Commission Director, Regional President, Rep-at-Large
• Chair, Innovative Learning Models and Student Financial Aid Taskforce
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Witness for the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training
Sallie Mae Financial Aid Advisory Board
Eastern Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators – President
New Jersey Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators – President
The College Board – National/Regional Council
• Community College Advisory Panel
• Presenter – 20 NJASFAA conferences & 10 EASFAA conferences
• Presenter – PowerFAIDS National Conference – 7 years
• Leadership Awards – State, Region, National and Board of Trustee