According to Chio Flores, Financial Aid Director of Washington State University, their second year of the ZZUSIS system is “running much more smoothly than last year.” To make things even better, according to Flores they “also implemented several new technological improvements, which has also helped significantly.”
Recent improvements include the ability to upload financial aid documents through scanning and other imaging processes. It allows staff to see the student’s documents quickly and have access to them quicker and allows the office to save on paper and the possibility of losing documents and having to ask for them more than once. These changes have appeared to make the office run more smoothly, allowing the Financial Aid Officers to focus on the students’ needs.
Flores believes that this system makes the lives of the Financial Aid Officers much easier than the way appointments were previously run. Now, students can make appointments online, at their own convenience, and according to their own schedules. This makes Flores’ staff “better prepared to address student needs based on the reason for their visit, which results in a more efficient one-on-one session.”
The new process has received a mixed review by Washington State’s students. While many students like the online scheduling aspect when it comes to needing a regular appointment, others dislike the idea that they are unable to just “drop in” when they are nearby. If they need a quick question answered, they can call or send an email; however, due to the new schedule process, a student may need to wait a little longer for an answer.
The future of the ZZUSIS is a positive one. With the success of the system and the continuing improvements, the plan is to continue using it as long as they are seeing positive results between the officers and the students. There are other customer service strategies they are looking into to continue to make the ZZUSIS system better for current and future students, and more efficient for Flores’ Financial Aid Officers.
What do you think of the ZZUSIS program at the Washington State University campus? Share with us in the comment box below!
