University introduces mobile solution to help students file financial aid docs

Newswire: June 2, 2017.

Dateline: Davis, Calif.

The financial aid office of the University of California, Davis has embraced mobile device solutions for the students it serves, giving them a secure way to sign and file their student aid documents from a tablet or smartphone.

The mobile platform, developed by CampusLogic, allows students to file identity documents such as Social Security cards, visas or passports, birth certificates, or other materials needed to evaluate the student’s need and the family’s ability to pay tuition, fees and other expenses.

The move comes after the U.S. Department of Education ended the trial Quality Assurance Program, which had allowed colleges to choose the data sources they wished to verify to grant eligibility for student aid. The end of that program returns universities to traditional verification standards, which at Davis greatly expanded the population of students selected for verification.

“As a result, we looked for a tool that would streamline the process for students and families as well as the financial aid office,” said Deborah Agee, the director of Financial Aid and Scholarships at UC Davis.

The platform meets all legal and policy obligations to secure sensitive student information, said Viji Murali, the university’s vice provost for information and educational technology. It still is incumbent upon students to help protect their own information by using secure network connections and not sharing passwords or other private information that access the documentation.

UC Davis, located outside Sacramento, is the third-largest university by enrollment in the University of California’s 10-campus system.

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(Front page image via University of California, Davis.)