All Access

Awarding school-based aid can be simpler - We'll show you how

Join Access Group for a morning that could transform the way you award school-based aid ... making it simpler and more efficient.

For more than 15 years Access Group's Need Access product has been helping graduate and professional schools award school-based aid. Now, as we launch the next generation of Need Access, it's being expanded to include undergraduate financial aid offices. Discover how Need Access can help bring your students' need into focus.

 

Sign up for the date and location that works best for you!

Boston, MA              January 24, 2012         Boston Marriott Copley Place

New York, NY          January 25, 2012         New York Marriott Marquis

Philadelphia, PA      January 26, 2012         Loews Philadelphia Hotel

Washington, DC      January 27, 2012         Washington Marriott Metro Center

 

At the close of each event, we'll hold a raffle for all attendees. Through the luck of the draw, one attendee will win a $1,000 donation to their school's scholarship fund.

That was Then, This is Now - The Unveiling of the New Need Access - Access Group’s Need Analysis Product

Posted by: Becky Marrone @ Access Group

During Thursday afternoon’s pre-conference session, Kim Siwarski, Access Group’s national sales director, and Ann Durandetta, a member of the internal account executive team unveiled the enhanced Need Access need-analysis service. 

For those not familiar with the product, Need Access is a need analysis product offered by Access Group for the past 15 years.  It’s an all-in-one, web-based need analysis solution that collects and analyzes student data bringing clarity, efficiency and equity to schools' institutional aid processes.  By providing school users with the most accurate and complete financial picture of their students, Need Access ensures that institutional aid gets into the hands those who need it the most. 

The enhanced product will launch in January, 2012 and is now available to both graduate and undergraduate institutions.

The session started with Kim taking us on a journey back in time to illustrate just how far technology, especially Need Access, has come since the 1995-1996 processing year.  Here are few of the visuals to set the stage for those who will remember way back to 1996 …

Technology has changed so much since then ... from "cell phone" to "mobile device."

And the computer ... enough said.

And let’s not forget those 3 ½ inch disks.  Would you believe students sent us their completed Need Access application data via mail on 3 ½ inch disks! Today, Need Access is completely web-based and has come a long way since then! 

And finally … the new Need Access.   For the past two years, Access Group has invested  time and resources to redesign Need Access from a stand-alone software product to fully integrated and enhanced web-based need analysis service.   That means: 

• Student data will now been available to school users in real-time and at your finger tips
• No more software to for school users download … it’s all in the “cloud”
• More flexibility and customization than ever before
• And improved system usability for all users (students, parents and schools alike) – take a look:

 The former Need Access Counselor software main menu:

To the new and improved School Administrator menu:

The former Need Analysis report:

And the new and improved Need Access Need Analysis report: 

The former Need Access Student Information page:

The new and improved Need Access Student Information page:

 As you can see, the enhancements made to the Need Access service tremendously improve the performance and usability of service. The positive reaction from the audience during the live demonstration of the system confirmed that for us as well.  

For more information about how Need Access can help "bring your students' need into focus" or for a demonstration of the system, please contact Tom Ramaeker (tramaeker@accessgroup.org) or Kim Siwarski (ksiwarski@accessgroup.org) or visit our website at NeedAccess.Org.

 

A Closer Look at Need Analysis

Posted by: Ann Durandetta @ Access Group

Thursday afternoon, a group of 17 of us kicked off the conference with an interactive and lively group discussion on how fluctuating economic and institutional conditions are affecting need analysis and aid packaging strategies. Tara Olsen, director of financial aid, Tufts University School of Medicine, and Charles Pruett, assistant dean for financial aid, Georgetown University Law Center, led a Needs Analysis workshop on refreshing institutional methodologies to provide current, thorough, and equitable methods to make the most of limited aid dollars. With some terrific input from a very active audience, we discussed a myriad of methods and styles of equitably distributing school-based aid.

Charles and Tara then gave overviews of the needs analysis institutional methodologies used at their respective schools. We discussed "hidden treasures" in the form of conflicting data, such as interest or dividend income that doesn't seem to match the reported level of investment, interpreting Schedule E losses on real estate and rental properties, and cars or home equity values that seem disparate with other data reported (especially given the current economy). To assist with this process, we discussed imputing assets and research using sites like www.zillow.com. Charles demonstrated the impacts of need-based grant funds to graduates at several different potential income levels, in conjunction with IBR, PSLF, and LRAP programs, using a financial planning calculator located at www.law.georgetown.edu/finaid/openhouse.html

In addition to the resources mentioned above, Tara and Charles provided us with a sample 1040, W-2, and several website tools including:

http://www.edupass.org

www.moneycentral.msn.com

http://finance.yahoo.com

 

Need Access - Need Analysis

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Learn more about the Need Access need analysis soluton at NeedAccess.Org

Need Access, The School Registration Process - Watch the Video!

 

Visit NeedAccess.org to learn more about how Need Access can work for you.

 

Need Access Keeps Your Students' Needs in Mind - Watch the Video!

 

Visit NeedAccess.org to learn more about how Need Access can work for you.

Need Access, An Overview - Watch the New Video!

Visit NeedAccess.org to learn more about how Need Access can work for you.

Introducing the All New (and Improved) Need Access!

For 15 years, Need Access has helped graduate and professional financial aid administrators award their institutions’ need-based aid.  Well, frankly, after 15 years, it was time for Need Access “to have a little work done!” 

In January, we proudly launched the new Need Access website and here are the top five changes: 

• Most noticeably, we’ve introduced an updated branding scheme to Need Access.  The Need Access marketing team, working with our agency, developed a new product logo, color scheme, and then incorporated those into a new site look-and-feel for Need Access.

 

•  Also as part of the re-design, we introduced a new tag line for the school market. Since “the best thing since sliced bread" was taken, we decided upon, “Need Access - bringing student need into focus.”  You’ll see this new brand identifier on materials that you receive regarding Need Access. 

 

• We also expanded needaccess.org to include content for the school administrators.  In the past, we’ve published Need Access information for the schools and FAAs under accessgroup.org, but with the re-design we’ve created an area for schools.  To find information about Need Access, simply go to needaccess.org and click into the School Administrator area, “learn how Need Access can work for you. 
  
• While we’ve always been proud of Need Access and the positive feedback from our Need Access schools, we took this opportunity to introduce more on-screen help.  Most notably, we’ve expanded the student and parent help sections and introduced a global site search.

 

• As we always strive to keep your students’ in mind, we incorporated significant improvements to the student and parent application process.  We updated the application to follow modern web conventions, introducing an interface modeled after traditional website forms and applications, hopefully making the application even easier to use.

The Need Access team isn’t slowing down after introducing these improvements – we’ve already started on the Counselor software product.  Be sure to keep an eye on your e-mail for upcoming product announcements. 

Click the button below to go to the new NeedAccess.Org and use the comment function at the end of this blog post to let us know what you think. 

Posted by:  Christina Martin