In School Aided Survey

Department of Education
Customer Satisfaction Program In-school Aided Survey

Federal Student Aid

2008 In-School

Financial Aid Satisfaction Survey

(Items in BOLD are interviewer instructions, and are not intended to be read to the respondent)

(Items marked i.e. or e.g. should only be read if respondent needs clarification)

Introduction (Do not read)

1. Hello, this is ____________________ calling from _____ on behalf of the United States Department of Education Federal Student Aid. May I please speak to (name from list) ? (If necessary: We’re conducting a survey and are trying to contact people who are currently pursuing post-high school education at a college, university, community college, or trade school.)
   
   1 (Named person is on the phone, continue at INTRO4)
   2 (Named person is available, proceed at INTRO3. when respondent comes to phone)
   3 (Named person is unavailable, schedule callback)
   4 (Named person is no longer this number, use INTRO2.)
   5 Refused/Hung Up

2. Is there another number at which I could reach him/her? (If necessary: We’re conducting a survey and are trying to contact people who are currently pursuing post-high school education at a college, university, community college, or trade school.)
   
   1 (Will provide new number) >> Thank you and have a good day! (Contact new number)

2 (Refused to provide new number) >> Thank you and have a good day!

3. (When respondent comes to phone)
   Hello, this is [interviewer name] calling from [data vendor], a research firm calling on behalf of Federal Student Aid. (Continue)

4. We’re calling as part of an initiative Federal Student Aid has undertaken to understand how people who are currently pursuing post-high school education feel about the financial aid information and services they receive. Are you presently enrolled in a post-high school study program at a college, university, trade school or community college?

1 Yes (Continue at INTRO5.)
2 No (Thank you, but, for purposes of this study, we would like to talk to people who are currently pursuing a post-high school education. Have a nice day.)

8 Don’t know

9 Refused

5. Federal Student Aid is conducting this survey with students such as you to measure satisfaction with the information and support services for financial aid that you receive. I’d like to take some time now to go through this survey with you. This interview is authorized by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Control No. 1845-0045. Your comments will, of course, remain strictly confidential. The discussion will take about 10 minutes. Is this a good time?

1 Yes (Continue with Next Question)
2 No (When would be a more convenient time for you to complete this study?)

Information (Do not read)

INFOWHAT What sort of information about financial aid are you typically interested in? Again I’ll read a list and this time please tell me if you are looking for this kind of information frequently, sometimes, rarely, or never [read list, code].

1. Information on available scholarships or grants

2. Information on applying for student loans

3. Information about student loans you already have

4. Information about work study programs

5. Other

INFOHOW I’d like to start by asking you to think about how you get information about financial aid for your education since you started your program. I am going to read a list of potential sources of information, for each please tell me if you have received information from that source. [Read list; check all that apply]

1. A counselor you had in high school

2. Printed materials from your school’s office of financial aid

3. Printed materials from a lending institution such as a bank or credit union

4. Printed materials from a Federal government entity such as the U.S. Department of Education

5. Printed materials from state government

6. Online resources provided by your school (e.g., a financial aid webpage on your school’s web site)

7. Online resources provided by the federal government

8. Online resources provided by another entity such as a state government, or other organization

9. Talking with financial aid counselors at your college or university

10. Talking with other staff or faculty at your school (e.g., resident advisors, academic counselors)

11. Talking with friends or family about financial aid

12. Information in the media (i.e., TV, radio, print ads)

13. Other [specify]

INFOPREF Thinking of the list we just went through, what would you say is your most preferred way to get information about financial aid for your studies? [capture responses verbatim]

Now please think about all the different types of information you may get about financial aid, regardless of the source. On a scale from 1 to 10, where “1” means “poor” and “10” means “excellent”, in general how would you rate the information you get about financial aid on…

1. Being easy to understand

2. It’s usefulness

3. Being available in a format you prefer (e.g., printed materials, web pages, etc.)

4. Being easy to find

Communications (Do not read)

Now please think about any communications you may receive from your school about financial aid, such as newsletters, notifications of application deadlines, and so on.

COMMHOW How do you typically receive communications about financial aid?

1. Mail

2. Email

3. Other [specify]

COMMPREF What would you say is your preferred way to get communications about financial aid?

1. Mail

2. Email

3. Other [specify]

On a scale from 1 to 10, where “1” means “poor” and “10” means “excellent”, how would you rate the…

2. Clarity of communications you receive

3. Timeliness (i.e., arriving in time for you to take appropriate action)

4. Effectiveness of the means used for communicating with you (e.g., mail, email, etc.)

Award Administration (Do no read)

Now please think about the process you need to go through to receive the financial aid you have been awarded. I’m thinking of things like the paperwork you may need to submit, visits to your school’s financial aid office, getting your promissory notes signed, and so on.

Now think generally about your experiences with the award administration process at your school. On the 1 to 10 scale with 1 as “Poor” and 10 “Excellent”, please rate your school on:

1. The timeliness of your award notification

2. The information they provide about your personal financial aid package

3. Making clear the steps you need to take to get your awarded funds (e.g., course registration requirements, etc.)

4. Making clear when your awarded funds will be available

5. Helpfulness of the financial aid staff you interact with

6. Knowledge of the financial aid staff you interact with

PROBLEM Have you ever had any problems with the award administration process?

1. Yes

2. No [skip to ACSI Benchmarks]

PROBTYPE What was the nature of the problem you experienced? [capture verbatim]

Account Management (Do not read)

Now I’d like you to think about the way your school manages your account, that is, how they keep track of your tuition payments, loans, scholarships and so on.

ACCTSYS Does your school give you access to an online account management tool where you can check your account status, look up loan or scholarship payments, or make payments?

1. Yes

2. No (skip to ACCTHOW)

3. Don’t know (skip to ACCTHOW)

ACCTOFT How often would you say you use this system to get information on your account? [capture verbatim]

ACCTHOW How do you get information about your account? [capture verbatim]

Thinking about the way your school manages your account, and using the 1 to 10 scale, where “1” means “poor” and “10” means “excellent”, how would you rate the…

1. Availability of your account information

2. Ease of accessing your account information

3. Accuracy of the account balances

4. Ease of understanding your account statements

Entrance/Exit Counseling (Do not read)

GETCOUN Have you received entrance and/or exit counseling regarding your student loans?

1. Entrance

2. Exit

3. Both

4. Neither

5. Don’t know

Using the 1 to 10 scale, how would you rate the…

1. Helpfulness of the information provided

2. Convenience of the counseling session (i.e.. time and place)

3. Format of the counseling session (i.e., way the information was presented)

COUNFORM What was the format of the counseling session(s) you attended? [if necessary – “was it a videotape presentation, an online tutorial, a private meeting with a counselor, a group discussion?”] [Capture verbatim response]

ACSI Benchmark Questions (Do not read)

Now please think about all of your experiences dealing with financial aid issues as your work on your post-high school education, including what we’ve discussed so far, and with anything else you can think of.

1. Using a 10-point scale on which “1” means “very dissatisfied” and 10 means “very satisfied”, how satisfied are you with the financial aid process?

2. Using a 10-point scale on which "1" now means "falls short of your expectations" and "10" means "exceeds your expectations," to what extent has the financial aid process met your expectations?

3. Imagine what an ideal process for financial aid for post-high school education would be like. How well do you think the financial aid process you deal with now compares with the ideal you just imagined? Please use a 10-point scale on which "1" means "not at all close to the ideal," and "10" means "very close to the ideal."

Outcome Measures (Do not read)

TRUST Using a scale of 1 to 10 where “1” means “not at all confident” and “10” means “completely confident”, how confident are you that the financial aid process serves your best interests?

CONFID On that same scale, how confident are you in your ability to manage your student loans both now and in the future?

CLOSE1 In your own words, how do you think the financial aid process could be improved to better serve students such as yourself? [enter verbatim response]

Demographics (Do not read)

• Year in school

• EFC

• Loan/grant types (DL/FFEL/Pell)

Closing (Do not read)

Those are all the questions I had for you. Thank you for your time, and have a good day.

Paperwork Burden Statement

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 1845-0045. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average ten minutes per response, including the time to review instructions, search existing data resources, gather the data needed, and complete and review the information collection. If you have any comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimate(s) or suggestions for improving this form, please write to: U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C. 20202-4537. If you have comments or concerns regarding the status of your individual submission of this form, write directly to: Tony Oliveto, Enterprise Performance and Management Service/Strategic Planning and Reporting, U.S. Department of Education, 600 Independence Avenue, S.W., UCP – 094F1, Washington, D.C. 20202.

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