Program Name
Please select your program
Financial Aid & Scholarships
Division
Submission Date
1a. Provide a brief description of the program and how it supports the college’s Mission and Values Statements, its Diversity Statement, CSM’s and SMCCCD’s Strategic Plans, and the college’s Educational Master Plan. You may also discuss any factors that have impacted the program and its enrollment. Include changes in student populations, statewide initiatives, transfer requirements, advisory committee recommendations, legal mandates, workforce development and employment opportunities, and community needs.
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| see word document attached! | |
Description of Program
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2a. Describe the results of your previous Program Review’s action plan.
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Results of your previous Program Review’s action plan
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2b. Program coherence and effectiveness: Explain any curriculum changes since last program review, including SLO alignments
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Program coherence and effectiveness
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2c. Student success and equity: Discuss what your program has done to address equity gaps between student populations and between modes of delivery (online, hybrid, and face-to-face), describing your successes, works in progress, and/or ongoing challenges.
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Student success and equity
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2d. Provide an update on any long-term plans that are still in progress (if applicable).
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Long-term plans
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3a. Review student program usage and discuss any differences in student success indicators across demographics. Refer to SARS, Banner, PRIE data, and other data sources as appropriate.
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| -As mentioned in our previous data, it indicates that 43.4% Hispanics and 55.9% Females are receiving financial aid. However: there is also a decrease in numbers of African American, Asian, and Pacific Islander students who are not applying or receiving financial aid.
-In addition, we continue to see a high rate of first generation students at 74.3% who are financial aid recipients. | |
3b. Discuss what your program has done this Program Review cycle to address achievement gaps between student populations, describing your successes, works in progress, and/or ongoing challenges.
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| -As mentioned in our previous data, Pacific Islander students identified as 4.1% of our students recipients, an indicator that there needs to be significant interventions to increase completion of the financial aid application.
-We are working closely with our learning community such as Mana to provide ongoing personal assistance with Pacific Islander students. Meaning that students will participate in financial aid related workshops.
-Financial Aid staff actively participate in Mana hosted events by creating personal relationships with the students, so barriers are eliminated from seeking financial aid related assistance with our staff. | |
3c. Discuss what your program has done this Program Review cycle to address achievement gaps between modes of delivery (online, hybrid, and face-to-face), describing your successes, works in progress, and/or ongoing challenges.
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| •We provide multilingual information on our online platforms. FATV GetSAP and GetBOG are interactive modules on federal SAP BOG Fee Waiver and Priority Enrollment that areoffered in multiple languages, such as Spanish, Chinese, etc.
•The Financial Aid and Scholarship office will continue to broaden utilization of web based services such as forms and information to students.
•Enhanced utilization of scanning and indexing to reduce paper and increase efficiency.
•We created an Instagram account for students to get recent updates and information about financial aid and scholarship deadlines, events, and activities
•Constrained budget – Due to COLA increases, our BFAP funds are impacted and so we have less funds for outreach and other services.
•An Outreach Coordinator would be a beneficial addition to our staff team. | |
3d. Program Efficiency Indicators: Do we deliver programs efficiently given out resources? Summarize trends in program efficiency. Discuss no-shows, group vs. indvidual delivery, etc.
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| The implementation of new technology definitely enhanced the financial aid awarding process. The packaging process provides a faster turnaround in providing award notifications to students. Below are examples of processes that were implemented during the last couple of years.
•WebSmart Communication: AppWorks email notification to students regarding their financial aid status or request for additional information. This process runs daily.
•Financial Aid Application: Online submission through FAFSA or Dream Act website
•Scholarship Application: Online submission through Academic Works
•Bar coded documents: All submitted financial aid documents are barcoded to expedite scanning and to assign documents to specific students.
•Direct Deposit of funds: We partnered with BankMobile Disbursement to deliver financial aid and scholarship funds to students. Students have the choice to choose from the following options: use Electronic Deposit to transfer their financial aid money into their own bank account, create a Bank Mobile vibe account, or wait for a check to be mailed to their home.
•FATV modules: We added FATV modules in different languages such as Spanish and Chinese. | |
3e. Reflect on recent Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) and/or Service Area Outcomes (SAO) assessment results for the program. Identify trends and discuss areas in need of improvement. Specify how SLO/SAO assessment informs program development and changes to the program.
If your answer is more than 2000 characters (approximately 300 words), please upload a Word document below (10 MB or less). If you’re not sure, please upload your answer. Please upload text only; we cannot ensure that non-text such as images, diagrams, or charts will be retained in the final submission.
| •We will continue to utilize FATV assessment tools to assess our SLO’s. As we mentioned in section B, (program coherence and effectiveness), students are learning the SAP policies and procedures to maintain financial aid eligibility.
•Students are encouraged to complete the online SAP workshop and take the pre and posttests.
•We are considering to clarify the pre and posttest questions, so that students can understand financial aid terminology.
•Based on the previous scholarship year application, we noticed that students may not know what to write or how to create a personal statement. In the upcoming application cycle, we decided to revise the new scholarship application personal statement section. Instead of the student writing a long essay, we will prompt the student with short questions and answers. This method should make the process for students easier to complete.
•In the upcoming application cycle, we will be adding questions to the pre and posttest about the new changes to the scholarship application, which is the personal statement section. This will help us measure if students have a better understanding about completing the scholarship application. | |
4a. Provide a brief description, including actions, measurable outcomes, and timelines
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| •Over the next academic year, our goals are the following:
-Offer scholarship application in different languages.
-Enhanced the financial aid awarding process by utilizing the use of technology such as Instagram and social media.
-Continue to streamline operations while improving services.
-Improve financial aid and scholarship website.
-Participate in in reach and outreach events.
-Financial aid staff will continue to participate in workshops and conferences.
We will continue to evaluate measurable outcomes for our goals | |
4b. What will your program do to increase student success and promote student equity in the next two years? What kind of professional development and institutional support will be engaged and enacted to meet these goals?
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| •In order to increase productivity and efficiency, the Financial Aid and Scholarship staff will rely on scanners. This means that staff will scan and index files, which provides a more efficient process to award students. We anticipate a growing need of high-speed scanners.
•Increase the number of laptops and computers for the Learning Center to provide better technological services to students.
•We need a space to provide the staff an opportunity to present workshops for a variety of topics, including financial aid, money management, loan default prevention, etc.
•We will continue to collaborate with all learning communities, Multicultural and Dream Center, and other programs that support diverse students. | |
4c. Describe other professional development activities and institutional support and collaborations that would most effectively ensure that the center achieves its goals and plans.
If your answer is more than 2000 characters (approximately 300 words), please upload a Word document below (10 MB or less). If you’re not sure, please upload your answer. Please upload text only; we cannot ensure that non-text such as images, diagrams, or charts will be retained in the final submission.
| •The Financial Aid and Scholarship staff will continue to participate in developmental workshops and conferences that enhance their professional skills. For example:
-Federal Student Aid (FSA Training Conference).
-National Associations of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA).
-California Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (CASFAA).
-The Financial Aid Director will participate in Managers & Supervisors Series trainings provided by the district.
-The Financial Aid staff as well as the director will participate in unconscious bias trainings. | |