Financial Aid Assistant Program
Leave the complexities of financial aid to us.
Your virtual team member all season long.
Families today have complex financial situations. Careful review of financial aid applicants allows schools to be strategic with budgets and grant awards to the families who most need help. The SSS Financial Aid Assistance (FAA) program delivers fully audited student folders that empower you to make informed award decisions.
SSS best practice folder reviews
Consistency with applicant reviews is important for equitable awarding. Our FAA team follows a set process to complete folders, giving you a “clean” calculation that reflects fixed errors and verified amounts.
A team of experts
A large sector of families applying for aid own businesses and have high value assets. FAA auto-flags folders with a business as high-priority for our expert team to review. Overlooked cash flow can make the difference between a family qualifying for aid and paying full tuition.
Proactive parent outreach
We communicate directly with parents to clarify PFS questions and obtain missing tax forms. Every communication is logged in the applicant’s student folder, so you know the actions we take to verify, audit, and complete each student folder.
Why SSS Financial Aid Assistant?
Save time
Free up your time tracking submissions, chasing parent tax forms, and reviewing student folders.
Reduce stress
Eliminate questions that arise with parent-entered amounts or determining if revisions are needed to recalculate a family’s contribution.
Save money
Make well-informed award allocations, avoid over awarding, and be strategic with your budget dollars.
“FAA was a lifesaver for me this year. I have so many competing priorities in my role. It is hard to find the time needed to process financial aid applications, particularly for the more complicated files. It was such a huge timesaver for me, and equally important, I knew that the files had been reviewed by an expert. Thank you to SSS for offering such a valuable resource for a small cost.”
A choice of two FAA service levels
- FAA Program Manager as direct point of contact for support FAA Program Manager as direct point of contact for support
- Annual Settings configuration in School Portal Annual Settings configuration in School Portal
- Monitor timely PFS submissions by familiesMonitor timely PFS submissions by families
- School selected student folders for FAA review School selected student folders for FAA review
- Family contribution recalculations Family contribution recalculations
- Log of FAA team notes, revisions, and parent communications in the FAA tab and Family Contribution Worksheet of student folder Log of FAA team notes, revisions, and parent communications in the FAA tab and Family Contribution Worksheet of student folder
- Proactive communication with parents about PFS errors and outstanding required tax documents Proactive communication with parents about PFS errors and outstanding required tax documents
- Late applicant reviews after school deadline Late applicant reviews after school deadline
- Assistance with family appeals after award decision Assistance with family appeals after award decision
- Year-end wrap up data and analytics Year-end wrap up data and analytics
- School policy customizations for family contribution recalculations.
For Eample: Zillow home value check and considerations for siblings in college. School policy customizations for family contribution recalculations.
For Eample: Zillow home value check and considerations for siblings in college. - When Prior Year verified tax amounts are used for reviews, follow up after April 15 is conducted with Current Year tax forms to identify changes.When Prior Year verified tax amounts are used for reviews, follow up after April 15 is conducted with Current Year tax forms to identify changes.
- Final awards entered in School Portal Final awards entered in School Portal
Standard
- FAA Program Manager as direct point of contact for support
- Annual Settings configuration in School Portal
- Monitor timely PFS submissions by families
- School selected student folders for FAA review
- Family contribution recalculations
- Log of FAA team notes, revisions, and parent communications in the FAA tab and Family Contribution Worksheet of student folder
- Proactive communication with parents about PFS errors and outstanding required tax documents
- Late applicant reviews after school deadline
- Assistance with family appeals after award decision
- Year-end wrap up data and analytics
- School policy customizations for family contribution recalculations.
For Eample: Zillow home value check and considerations for siblings in college.
- When Prior Year verified tax amounts are used for reviews, follow up after April 15 is conducted with Current Year tax forms to identify changes.
- Final awards entered in School Portal
Program Insights
- FAA Program Manager as direct point of contact for support
- Annual Settings configuration in School Portal
- Monitor timely PFS submissions by families
- School selected student folders for FAA review
- Family contribution recalculations
- Log of FAA team notes, revisions, and parent communications in the FAA tab and Family Contribution Worksheet of student folder
- Proactive communication with parents about PFS errors and outstanding required tax documents
- Late applicant reviews after school deadline
- Assistance with family appeals after award decision
- Year-end wrap up data and analytics
- School policy customizations for family contribution recalculations.
For Eample: Zillow home value check and considerations for siblings in college. - When Prior Year verified tax amounts are used for reviews, follow up after April 15 is conducted with Current Year tax forms to identify changes.
- Final awards entered in School Portal
A powerful, complete financial aid solution.
Take a closer look as how SSS can give you everything you need to be strategic with your financial aid and award management.