Building transparency and trust in financial aid processing

When it comes to processing financial aid awards, one of the key issues important to schools and families is privacy in processing. Families are also anxious about the determination of awards and school staff are focused on providing award information to them as soon as possible.  

The Parents’ Financial Statement (PFS) is the cornerstone of SSS’s financial aid application process. Families submit a PFS and grant SSS permission to analyze their financial information. It’s one form, for one fee, for any number of siblings, for any number of schools. Our third-party financial aid solution ensures that all students and families are served in a timely, fair, equitable, unbiased, and respectful manner. 

Schools benefit from having a financial aid processing solution that gives them automated document verification and self-serve functionality in tandem with secure management of financial data and privacy throughout the application process itself.  

When using a third-party financial processing software, schools can provide assurance to families that there is a full objective analysis of all financial aid information submitted. Families can be reassured through this process that no outside influence occurs in processing the financial information that is used to make financial aid award decisions.  

An additional value to using a third-party processor for the data gathered for the Parents’ Financial Statement is that families can depend on privacy, security, and reduction of need for manual paper processing.  

Using SSS enables schools to take the calculations, reduce any perception of bias by helping schools equitably, and transparently assign/and award financial aid. SSS simplifies the financial aid application process for families and improves the overall school and family experience.  

Every family can access the Parents’ Financial Statement (PFS) which provides parents with ample opportunities to add comments with their responses and a final section to type any additional information they want schools to know. Schools benefit from being able to then base determination of the available funds, a family’s need, and the school’s own philosophy with financial aid awards.  

SSS is your partner for equitable financial aid processing.  

For more information on financial aid for families we also recommend this resource from the National Association of Independent Schools –  https://parents.nais.org/afford/about-financial-aid/.  

Let us show you how our financial aid processing solution will benefit your school, click here for more information –  https://www.communitybrands.com/products/school-student-services/.