This week we wrap up our three-part series on #FinTech, where we’re exploring how money for college can be found and moved faster, safer, and smarter, alleviating some of the headache for students, their families, and this time around, for university administrators. This is part of our focus on #EdTech and all the changes our industry is experiencing.
In our first piece, we talked about new student loan options, especially for students from underserved demographics, those looking for social equality, those who want unique repayment terms, and international students. Then last week, we jumped to alternative funding sources, such as micro funding, income share agreements, and new developments in scholarship FinTech.
Those areas of FinTech were all helpful to the students seeking ways to finance their educations and helpful for university administrators to understand as the financing tools and options you students can access change.
Today we are looking at what is new in the world of financial data and payment processing. Let's consider how your job might get a little easier.
And speaking of making your job a bit easier, we have 3 new Intead student recruiting research reports headed your way. Now is a great time to consider an Intead Plus Bookshelf subscription. Don’t miss these valuable reports to help you improve your institution’s recruitment game:
- Student Interactions on Peer-to-Peer Recruiting Platforms
- Student Interactions with Chatbots and other Artificial Intelligence Tools
- Student Recruiting in Emerging Markets: Africa and Latin America
Or you can learn from us with a personal meeting: we will be discussing our latest research and presenting our student recruitment insights at the upcoming TABS, ICEF and AIRC conferences. Email us to set up a meeting.
Read on for important insights into a set of really valuable questions you need to ask before embracing the latest FinTech tools…
What’s new in Payment Processing?
Two weeks ago, our blog post on student loans (see link above) talked about financing options for international students—a category that until recently was pretty empty. Whether those students are able to finance their degrees through loans or not, sometimes collecting payments across oceans and currencies can be difficult.
Flywire is a single digital payment platform for both domestic and international students that creates payment plans, collects payment, automates past-due receivables, processes refunds, and sends actionable reminders.
What’s new in Financial Aid and Scholarship Management?
With more students requesting financial aid, the competition is fierce, and the stack of applications can be daunting. One solution is using an automated process tool to filter and verify student data.
Campus Logic creates a self-guided process that students can use on their phones to navigate the school’s financial aid and payment system. Last week, we also mentioned their ScholarshipUniverse, a mobile AI platform students can use to search, select, and apply to internal and external scholarships, but it is a one-stop-shop scholarship management platform for institutions as well.
Another company with its fingers in several FinTech pots is Hyland, specializing in information automation across various fields, including higher ed. For institutional administrators, they offer OnBase, a financial aid verification tool and ShareBase, a FinTech solution for your Bursar’s office that automatically routes, files, and indexes individual transactions for processing and review.
These are just a few of the administrative FinTech platforms that are getting buzz. But, before you adopt any FinTech platform, there are some questions you should ask.
Questions to ask about these services:
- How will it integrate with your existing student information system (SIS)?
- What is their development road map identifying the features and upgrades they plan to roll out in the next 12 months, 24 months, 36 months?
The bottom line is that the key words for any FinTech should be
- Reliability/Stability (of the system and the company itself)
- Efficiency (think integration with existing systems)
- Convenience (think user experience and support)
- Security (always a factor today – should be a given, but clearly it is not)
These technologies are here to streamline your work and serve you so that you can focus your energies on what is important: serving your students.
Was this 3 part series helpful? Let us know in the comments...
