System Student Finance Council (SSFC) updates (November 2018)

Nelnet upgrade
QuikPAY will be moved to the new 2018.2 release in late December. Testing has started in November. This will include the delayed 2018.1 release which was postponed from August and October. More information will be shared as it becomes available.

Nelnet credit card payment update
Little has changed since the last update. The ability for students to pay online with a credit card is still working the same but is being processed through a band-aid set up by Nelnet while we work on an agreement with the new card processor. After many months of no movement, we hope a recent call between attorneys and others may move things forward. 

One Stop website
The SSFC has been reviewing One Stop website content to make sure things are current and to determine if changes are needed based on student reactions.

Terminology usability review
Kate Sophia along with Usability had the SSFC select a small group of words and their definitions that have caused issues or confusion for students. The Usability team then set up testing of these words with students. The objective was to see if the test subjects would answer with the word we were looking for or what word(s) they would respond with. There was some very interesting feedback that we will review and discuss further to make changes for users.

EDMS retirement
The Enterprise Document Management System (EDMS) is being decommissioned and replaced by Perceptive Content (ImageNow) as the storage medium for the student financials reconciliation reports. Testing is in progress and we expect that the transition will be complete in December 2018. More information about the access request process will be provided to the current users of EDMS in the coming month. After the transition, OIT will also need to bring the historical reports forward as a separate project.

System Financial Aid Council (SFAC) updates (November 2018)

We have begun loading 2019-2020 financial aid applications (ISIRS). As of 11/05/2018, over 12,600 individual applications have been loaded into PeopleSoft for our combined campuses. We will begin notifying students of any additional documents needed to complete their applications next week. We are also still awarding students for the current year. Spring 2019-only packaging will begin next week.

Information Technology updates (November 2018)

ASR-IT BAs
Student financial business analysts are working on spring 2019 tuition setup. Each campus has set the dates for doing their setup verification and starting the calculations.

All BAs who support Campus Solutions tested the latest Critical Patch update (November 11 production date). This was regression testing to ensure that the security patches didnot negatively impact our production system.

PeopleSoft Campus Solutions Image 11 has been released and BAs will be testing this over the next month with a migration to production on December 16, 2018. This release contains Financial Aid Regulatory Release 2 and 1098-T updates.

Destiny One Registration System
The latest version of Destiny One software, v5.7, was delivered to the Test instance on 11/7/2018. Pending successful validation of fixes and new functionality, the software will be delivered to the Production instance late November. New functionality in this release, related to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), includes the ability to forget an individual and new consent features.

Functional testing of the Destiny One-Salesforce integration is almost complete, with plans to go live in Production by late November.

Custom Solutions
The Custom Solutions team has begun testing the integration between TADA and student degree progress applications. Work continues on the new version of the student athlete certification tool for UMNTC student athletes.

Student Data and Analytics
Students' program and plan data by term as well as their class enrollment status by term are being designed to be built into UM Analytics for all system campuses. This will allow users to easily count and look at trends of students and their associated program/plans by term.

Retention risk code and models are being tested against additional system campus data. Data workflows are being updated to get closer to being able to run this analysis in one term predicting if students will return for the next term.

Join us for U of M Day of Data 2019! Spend a day learning and sharing new data skills and connecting with data enthusiasts across the University. This event is open to all students, faculty, and staff at the University of Minnesota across all campuses. It is free of charge to attend. Whether you are new to data or a data expert, you are welcome! For more information visit z.umn.edu/dayofdata.

Crookston updates (November 2018)

Incomplete Grade Contract workflow

UMC is implementing the new Incomplete Grade Contract workflow this fall.

Early awards
We are preparing estimated financial aid awards earlier this year than in years prior, due to start mailing in mid-December. Financial aid staff plan to work closely with an enrollment management consultant over the next few months on new student scholarships and admitted student communications and events.

Staff updates
We welcome Ken Myers (OTR) back to work after being out for five weeks recovering from cancer surgery. Things are looking good!

Caylin Scheff was hired as a financial aid counselor in the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships. She holds a BS in business management from Northern State University in Aberdeen, SD. She also studied abroad at Hanyang University in Seoul, South Korea and Schmalkalden University in Germany. Prior to her recent move to the Crookston area, she worked as a Student Accounts Clerk at Presentation College Aberdeen, SD.

Duluth updates (November 2018)

MN Collection Network conference
Student Financial Services staff attended the MN Collection Network Mega Conference 10/14-10/17. Topics discussed included 1098-T reporting, data security, and updates to the CFPB (BCFP).

Alumna honored
Alumna Georgia Gates '18 recently received the 2018 Midwest Association of Financial Aid Administrators Success Story of the Year award. Gates, a financial aid recipient, was a University Honors student who graduated in three years with degrees in criminology and sociology. As a student, she also worked in One Stop Student Services helping her peers navigate the financial aid process.

Alumna Georgia Gates with Jody O'Connor of One Stop

Morris updates (November 2018)

Conference news
Angie Senger, a transfer evaluation coordinator in the Office of the Registrar, attended the fall Minnesota Transfer Specialist Conference.

Office of Financial Aid staff attended the Midwest Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (MASFAA) conference held in Minneapolis - 10/14-17

Veterans Appreciation Event
The annual community Veterans Appreciation Event was held at the Morris Area High School on November 12 from 2-3pm, free and open to the public. Chancellor Behr spoke at the event. Office of Financial Aid Veterans Certifying Official, Jana Koehler, was in attendance to welcome UMN Morris veterans and make introductions.

Twin Cities updates (November 2018)

One Stop Accepts EOAA Award

Last week, a team representing One Stop Student Services along with special guests Sue Van Voorhis and Robert McMaster, accepted the 2018 Lillian H Williams award from the University of Minnesota’s Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action (EOAA).

One Stop staff have displayed a deep dedication to fostering a welcoming and inclusive office in a variety of ways, including an update to the quality service standards and expectations; leveraging technology of the check-in kiosk to display the preferred name of the student; creating a summer book club for ASR staff to spark conversation around issues of identity, culture, and diversity; creating presentations and reflection activities to educate staff on topics including personal pronouns and microaggressions; and providing an opportunity for all student-serving staff to have new name tags and nameplates with personal pronouns.



12th Annual Student Veterans Appreciation Event
Each year, University Veterans Services hosts the Student Veterans Appreciation event to honor the service and recognize the unique commitment of student veterans and servicemembers. This year’s event was held on Wednesday, November 14 in the Great Hall in Coffman Memorial Union. The event, free and open to the public, featured T-shirts for veterans and drawstring bags for guests, pizza and games for all, a University and community partner information and resource fair, massage therapy, and Pet Away Worry and Stress (PAWS).

Retirements
After a long career of 41 years at the University, Carolyn Davidson has announced her intention to retire on December 4. Her most recent assignments have included being the lead for the Campus Community/Shared Data support team and lots of work on Campus Solutions security. She was also a member of the Civil Service Committee. We will miss Carolyn and her expertise and institutional memory. Please join all of us in congratulating her for many years of excellent service and enjoying all of the new adventures that retirement brings, including lots of international travel!

Karen Johnshoy Hesla, who has been a tireless advocate for students in the Office of Student Finance for many years, is retiring in mid-November. We wish her well in this new chapter.