Our Team Spotlight for the month of December is Tiffany Benson! Joining College Aid Services in 2021, Tiffany serves as a Senior Consultant and has earned several NASFAA credentials for Cost of Attendance, Direct Loans, Student Eligibility, and Verification. We had the opportunity to sit down with Tiffany for a brief interview where she shared her thoughts on important topics of the day and lessons that she has learned along the way as a Financial Aid professional:
What do you like most about being a consultant?
What I like about consulting is that I am able to use my level of expertise in all aspects of Financial Aid and am not boxed into just only doing loans, Pell grants, recon, or data upload. I’m able to use my Financial Aid skills all across the board so I can assist clients and help their students be financially stable enough to matriculate through college. I also love the flexibility – our clients are really understanding when it comes to having a work-life balance and do not always require that you work or process during their office hours. It’s comes in handy if there is a situation with my kids or something else that needs my immediate attention. So that is a great thing that I love about consulting, the ability to use all of my knowledge that I’ve gained over the last 8 years and the flexibility.
What do you enjoy about working for College Aid Services?
What I love about College Aid Services is that it’s like a big family. They are are very supportive if I have an issue with a student that I’m trying to process or a process that I’m trying to run that didn’t give me the outcome that I expected. I don’t care what the issue is or what time of day it is, I can shoot a teams message, an email, or even pick up the phone and the support comes pouring in; so College Aid Services is definitely one of a kind in that respect.
What areas do you specialize in?
I would say that I thrive most when it comes to troubleshooting and problem solving when it comes to the data – those are my things. Recon, I can balance some [financial] books and keep track of money like any accountant. State aid was also something that I just dove right into and exceled at the beginning of my career and it was one of my first big contracts with College Aid Services if I remember correctly. Ironically, I consulted for one of my previous employers and got their state aid program back on track for a few years. Even though I do miss working with students and families, I do well with back-end processing.
How do you stay up to date with regulations and policy changes?
I would say that I stay updated through my network. Of course, I have my College Aid Services family who make sure that any new information that comes out is posted on our website or on our social media pages. I also sign up for list serves, go to the Department of Education’s website a lot, and check my inbox because they do a good job of sending out emails about new releases. Social media is a big way to stay updated; that’s why I follow those Department of Ed social media pages. Our social media page also does a good job as well – so I stay up to date with social media, checking emails, reading important posts on websites like I said before. I like to consulting Sara Reese too when it comes to compliance because she gets the updates before the updates get the updates. College Aid Services should make a “Keep calm and call Sara Reese” t-shirt because she is really good. (For context, Sara Reese is College Aid Services’ Director of Compliance.)
What challenges do you see on the horizon in Financial Aid?
One of the main challenges facing the industry right now is FA2k. What I mean by FA2k is that this [FAFSA Simplification] is like when the year 2000 came in and everyone was worried about the computer system crashing. We didn’t know what was going to happen and that’s what my perspective is on the new Financial Aid process…there are just so many things that we just don’t know. I think it will create a PR nightmare not just for the student-facing side, but also for the schools where it’s just aimlessly waiting for the new FAFSA to drop on the [December] 31st and see what everything looks like. Hopefully processing goes well when we get ready to bring the FAFSAs in and award the first student, but we don’t really know, we are just aimlessly waiting for any new updates and releases to come out; hopefully they work like they’re intended to, but new delays are coming out more than the releases.
What advice would you give to a new Financial Aid officer?
I would definitely say to find a mentor. I have been fortunate enough to have some really good people in my corner that I have both worked with in FA and also that I met at a conference; so those have been very instrumental in my career. Being a go-getter or self-sufficient, I tell myself “okay, I want to learn this process” and then I find someone who is really good at it to teach me – If not, I say “let me go and find the resources so that I can learn about the process.” I always take good notes and documentation, which I started doing when I first got into Financial Aid. My previous director would ask me to make copies of policies and procedures to train other employees. I would make two copies: one for myself and one for the employee; of course, I would read over it, use our Banner test database, and I got promoted because I took that initiative to learn on my own. Definitely, find a mentor and just dive right in. Try to learn as much information as you can, take really good notes, and make sure that you store everything digitally so you always have it.
What do you like to do when you are not doing Financial Aid?
I do love to travel; I really got deep into international travel within the past year. I got to try different restaurants, go to different festivals, and I love all different types of food as well. I definitely enjoy family time so sometimes me and the kids end up playing a few board games – monopoly, cards, things of that nature, and that’s pretty much it. Traveling, food, and family are what I do when I need a little reset or some R & R. Self-care with spa days and retail therapy are also important for me to stay level-headed.
If you are interested in joining Tiffany and the rest of our College Aid Services team, review our current openings here. To learn more about how College Aid Services can help your institution, contact us at info@collegeaidservices.net or by phone toll-free at 833-GETCAS1 (833-438-2271).