The Financial Aid Support Center

Help Us Help You. The Financial Aid Support Center has been in service for the past ten months and, as of the date of this article, has answered more than 46,000 inquiries. While this is wonderful news, NOVA financial aid is serious about helping students; and to that end, we need your help. The Financial Aid Support Center needs your feedback; tell us how we are helping you as you complete the financial aid process.

You can provide feedback on your support center experience three different ways; the first is via the web-based survey on the support center portal. This seven-question survey allows you, the user, to evaluate the support portal, the embedded knowledge base, the NOVA financial aid staff, and allows you to write in your own comments. This survey has provided some vital information thus far and, with your help, will be an even more effective tool.

The second is via a brief phone survey at the conclusion of your call to the support center. This will allow you to rate the service you received during your call on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the most positive score. This provides us with quick and instant feedback on your phone call experience. The support portal is currently getting about a 40 percent response rate via this feedback tool, and it is our goal to get that response rate to above 60 percent.

The final method for feedback is via an embedded survey in your support center e-mail that summarizes the nature of and response to your ticket. This short survey allows the support center staff to gain valuable insight on your financial aid needs and expectations. An example: via this survey, we have found that 75 percent of respondents have indicated that e-mail is their preferred method of communication. Therefore, the financial aid department is taking steps to increase our effectiveness in reaching students via e-mail.

Customer service is a very serious matter at Northern Virginia Community College. Your feedback is essential to improving the financial aid application experience. The Financial Aid Support Center is your first line of engagement in addressing financial aid concerns; and it is important that we all work together to continue to improve this service.