CSUB: About Financial Aid

Goals and Objectives (AY 1999-2000)

Each year the Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships identifies a set of goals and objectives to accomplish in an effort to assess and improve the services provided to students. The goals and objectives for the 1999-2000 academic year included:

Goal 1: Update and upgrade the Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships Home Page for the benefit of current and prospective students and other interested parties who have computer access.

Objective 1: Upgrade the home page to include separate sections pertaining to how to apply for financial aid; a description of the types of aid; forms required to apply; student requirements; award determination; processing timeline; and answers to frequently asked questions.

Objective 2: Develop a financial aid links and telephone number section of the home page that provides descriptive information and direct links/telephone numbers to other Web sites and scholarship search organizations.

Objective 3: Develop an office information section of the home page that includes a Message from the Director; information concerning office location and address, phone and fax numbers, and email address; hours of operation for the academic year and summer; Title IV Code; a roster of office staff with e-mail links; a listing of Counselors by student letter group; the office mission statement; the most recent Annual report; office goals and objectives for the current year; and provision of the Student Survey of Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships Services in PDF format.

Objective 4: Develop a section of the home page for the indexing and archiving of all current issues of Financial Aid Highlights (FAH), a periodic electronic news update provided by the office.

Goal 2: Undertake and successfully complete all Y2K student aid data exchange compliance testing as recommended by the U. S. Department of Education.

Objective 1: Successfully test the school interface with the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS).

Objective 2: Successfully test transmission of the Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR) with the Central Processing System (CPS).

Objective 3: Successfully test the Federal Pell Grant Program Recipient Financial Management System (RFMS) via the Title IV WAN including:

1) Pell Payment Data

2) Processed Pell Payment Data

3) Electronic Statements of Account (ESOA) records

4) Data Request records

Objective 4: Successfully test the Direct Loan Origination System (DLOS) with regard to School "Gets" and School "Puts".

During the year, each of the above two goals and all of the eight objectives were accomplished. A major update of the office home page began during the Summer of 1999 and continued throughout the remainder of the academic year. The page has been upgraded to include some ten separate sections including: how to apply, types of aid, forms, requirements, award determination, processing timeline, FAQ (Financial Aid Questions), links, about us, and financial aid highlights. The home page upgrade has been very favorably received by internet users and to date some 11,253 visitors have accessed it during the year 2000.

All Y2K student data exchange compliance testing was successfully completed by late November of 1999 in accordance with the U.S. Department of Education timeline. CSU, Bakersfield was listed on the DOE Y2K Testing Honor Roll as having successfully completed all testing in the appropriate areas.