Today’s college students have grown up in a world where information is at their fingertips. Making a Student Financial Agreement (SFA) easily accessible to students, gives them the detail they need about your institution’s financial policies regarding enrollment and tuition. From Transact’s perspective, it’s a win-win for higher education professionals and students when financial information is transparent and available electronically.
Most universities require SFAs to be read and signed each year in an attempt to increase financial literacy among college students. By requiring students to sign these documents, they acknowledge they understand the cost of their education. From a university administrator's standpoint, it’s important that SFAs are easily accessible and simple to sign. That way, students have few to no roadblocks when they complete their important documents. A simple process for presenting and collecting the signed documents is another necessity among college administrators. This helps stay organized on the back end and ensures students have completed all of the required paperwork.
At Transact, we offer a SFA solution that allows students to digitally sign legally-binding forms when they log on to pay their tuition and other school fees. Our solution allows administrators to automate and digitize important forms, which cuts down on physical paperwork, minimizes errors, simplifies the signing process, and keeps the documents organized and secure.
Key Features of Transact’s SFA Solution
Present updated agreements upon student login
Since SFAs typically require signing at the beginning of each school year. With Transact’s solution, you can automatically alert the student of the new document when they login into their university account. This keeps the information top of mind for the students and easily accessible.
And if you need to update any documents, simply make the corrections and reupload the forms that need to be signed.
Track signature status and sync to an ERP
Our SFA solution eliminates the need for manual record keeping and digitally tracks which students have completed the paperwork and which haven’t. The solution transfers the signature status of each student to the ERP to safely store the information. Your ERP system then organizes the signatures so they are saved and easy to find. This ensures your records are always up-to-date and you can easily access the signatures when needed.
Save vital data and avoid discrepancies
In some cases, as an administrator, you may benefit from saving a timestamp and IP address for each signed document. This can be useful for legal and collection purposes. Transact’s feature automatically saves that information for you, allowing you to access it anytime.
Offer the convenience of 24/7 viewing and printing
Even in the digital age, many people still prefer having hard copies of financial documents. Both students and administrators cabview and print a SFA whenever they’d like. This feature is handy for people who like to keep physical copies with proof of signature.
Digitizing SFAs with Transact’s Solution for Higher Education
Now that we’ve covered why SFAs are important, here’s how the process works within Transact’s software.
Administrators upload new financial agreements
Students see a pop-up alerting them that there is a new form to sign when they log on to pay tuition
Students digitally sign legally-binding forms via an electronic signature
Administrators can check the status of agreements and download completed forms at any time
Students can view, download, and print agreements from the My Account section of their school online portal
We designed this process to be easy on both students and administrators to ensure students have a smooth experience and that administrators gather all the information they need.
Streamline Manual Processes with Transact’s Technology
Students can access their financial agreements through their Student Account Online Portal. Through this portal, administrators can upload documents that require signatures from students for things like:
Payment processing
Payment plans
Bill presentment
With all the documents in one, easy-to-access place, it’s easier for students and administrators to sign, collect, and view important forms. If you’re still relying on the old way of sending and requesting signatures for documents, it’s time for an upgrade.
With Transact’s SFA solution you can easily upload important documents, notify students when they are ready for signature, collect and store the signed forms, and view the completed documents at any time with just a few clicks of a button.
Our simple process makes it easy for both students and administrators. Get in touch with our experts for more information on utilizing this solution.
