Financial Aid Professionals Have a New Place to Exchange Information
A new web site is available for those in the financial aid profession. Many sites currently exist, but the launch of www. finaidpro. com provides a user driven format which encourages interaction and participation. The site is free and all that is needed to participate is to create an account.
New York, NY (PRWEB) June 16, 2004
Student Financial Aid Professionals around the nation were recently provided with a new tool to help provide the best service possible to students seeking a college education. FinAidPro. com was launched on May 11 with the intent of helping Financial Aid Professionals exchange information and ideas as well as share resources.
The concept for the web site began when two friends on opposite sides of the nation conceived of a web site where files related to general office procedures and communication with students and parents could be shared. Matt Clemons and Brendon Connelly graduated from the George Fox University MBA program in 2001. Matt now works in New York at Manhattan School of Music and Brendon works in Oregon at George Fox. Both share a personal web site and their interest in web site development was the impetus for the creation of FinAidPro. com.
“The goal from the beginning was a user driven site,” according to Connelly. “There are multitudes of sites that provide excellent information, but we wanted to provide a space where people could interact with one another and post information and files for anyone in the profession to use.”
“The file repository was definitely the genesis of the site,” states Clemons. “Why reinvent the wheel if you don’t have to? We found ourselves asking each other for documents and report templates and knew that people all over do the same thing.”
At present the three focal points of the site are a file repository, a discussion forum, and syndicated news feeds tied into topics related to financing and higher education. But both Clemons and Connelly have high hopes that the users will “take over” the site.
Connelly affirms this in saying, “We really hope that users will drive the content and come up with new ideas about how the site can be used. It was never our intent to be seen as experts; rather we want to provide a platform for those in the community to toss out ideas, questions, and contribute to the continued development of the field.”
The two co-founders also hope to be able to provide scholarship funding to aspiring students. Advertising is provided via the Google Adsense program and items with the site logo can be purchased through a link to Cafepress. com. There has been discussion about a donation link, but a final decision has not been made.
Any profits over and above the cost to host the site will go into a scholarship fund. Each time the fund reaches $500 a scholarship will be awarded to a student based upon criteria established by users of the site. “It seems like a win-win,” stated Clemons. “The community gets the chance to discuss effective means for providing access to education, and at the same time, hopefully provide practical access to some deserving students.”
If you have questions or comments, feel free to send an email to finaidpro@finaidpro. com.
