Navigating Student Financial Aid & Enrollment Strategy

Financial aid decisions shape whether a student enrolls, starts a course, and stays on track to graduate. The offices and systems responsible for those decisions often work on different timelines. What would change if institutions treated the way students pay for college as part of the enrollment experience from the beginning?

This episode features Dr. Wayne Patton and Dr. Lee Beaumont of Magellan Learning Solutions and strategic partner Jen McMahon, founder and managing partner of Mac Insight Group, discussing the growing challenges colleges and universities face surrounding student financial aid, enrollment operations, compliance, and student support.

The talk explores how financial aid is a critical part of the student experience, enrollment funnel, retention strategy, institutional sustainability model, and how Magellan and Mac Insight have partnered to help institutions attain operational excellence in this crucial area.

In this episode

• Why online and adult learners need financial aid processes that fit multiple start dates and shorter terms.

• How FAFSA requirements, transfer history, borrowing limits, and summer terms can complicate a student's plan.

• Why employer tuition assistance, military benefits, private loans, and payment plans require coordination across campus offices.

• How a student's payment readiness can help teams spot potential enrollment melt before classes begin.

• What connected systems, documented processes, and a clear handoff from admissions to advising can do for the student experience.

About the guest

Jen McMahon is the founder and managing partner of Mac Insight Group, a higher education consulting firm that works with institutions on enrollment, financial aid, and student accounts.

Chapters

• 00:00 — Introduction and guests

• 01:41 — Mac Insight Group's approach to solving campus problems

• 05:29 — Changes and staffing pressure in financial aid

• 12:11 — Traditional students and online adult learners

• 19:40 — Making payment part of enrollment strategy

• 24:56 — Summer terms, transfer students, and borrowing limits

• 31:52 — Keeping leaders informed as requirements change

• 33:38 — Affordability and enrollment melt

• 38:11 — Payment readiness before a term begins

• 41:41 — Connected systems and a better student handoff

• 45:32 — Closing advice and the value of higher education

Learn more

• ⁠Mac Insight Group⁠

• ⁠Magellan Learning Solutions⁠

If your institution needs help with marketing and enrollment, curriculum services, academic operations, training and professional development, or a custom solution, connect with Magellan.