University Financial Aid Department Faces Seasonal Challenges

The Challenge

The University has grown tremendously over the past ten years, with a record-setting enrollment of 38.694 for the 2017 fall semester. With this growth comes challenges. Helping to balance workloads by providing effective temporary employees during times of peak demand, is a core area of expertise for Priority.

Key departments, such as Financial Aid, are particularly affected by seasonal demand. The start of each new semester brings a significant increase in the demand for financial aid and advising services. To meet the demand, the Financial Aid Department typically needed to add 12 to 14 new employees during peak times.

Our Solution

Since the additional employees were not needed throughout the year, temporary employees provided a cost-effective and practical solution. Priority and the University
Financial Aid staff now meet annually in January to go over the staffing needs for the upcoming year.

Implementation

Priority works closely with the Financial Aid department to ensure it can provide employees with the appropriate skill sets when needed, for as long as needed. Priority leverages its processes to select the best candidates for each position while ensuring a proper fit with the unique culture of the University and each of its specific departments.

Results

To date, Priority has placed over 100 employees in the Financial Aid department. It is not uncommon for employees serving on a temporary assignment to be offered direct employment by the University when there is a vacancy among its core staff. To date, fifteen Priority employees have been offered full time positions within Financial Aid at Texas State.