Mary Piccioli

Last week was office moving day for a few folks at S&K. We are hiring another research analyst, the second time in three years that the research team has expanded in order keep up with the demand for our core services, which require significant data analysis and predictive modeling. The move into “new territory” for some S&K staffers made me think of what should happen when an admissions office decides to expand into new markets/geographic territories. In preparation for our office move, there was measuring, measuring, and more measuring, all in an effort to make the move very efficient once the professional movers arrived to begin the heavy lifting. There was none of the “how does this look here?” or “do you think this will fit …Read more

Colleges and universities are preparing for, or in many cases, are now in the thick of financial aid season. Some institutions have admissions staff conduct outreach calls to students once aid packages have been sent. For those that do not, admissions recruiters, at a minimum, need to be prepared to handle incoming calls. The idea is not to convert admissions staff into financial aid experts. However, recruiters should be familiar with the lingo of financial aid. Here is a list of questions and scenarios the recruiters should be prepared to address: Has your financial aid filing deadline passed? What forms are required? What is verification? Can you explain the EFC? Need? What about loans, payment plans, and paying the bill? When …Read more

Coordinating athletic aid and other institutional scholarships and grants can be challenging, especially when a college is changing its non-athletic aid policies. At both NAIA and NCAA Div I and II schools where combining athletic and other “regular” aid is the norm when full athletic scholarships are not available to many sports teams, timing and amount of the total package are key elements in the recruitment process. When an institution is planning to increase either guaranteed merit scholarships or need-based awards, care should be taken in considering how that could simply “add on” to aid packages for student-athletes in a way that may be unintended or unnecessary. If athletic recruitment is going fine and the aid packages alre…Read more