MBS Systems | In-Store Solutions

MBS Systems . In-Store Solutions . Student Financial Aid

Processing Student Financial Aid
The MBS Student Financial Aid Solution is built upon the belief that your time is better spent managing, selling, and providing great customer service instead of getting bogged down in needlessly complicated accounting and copious amounts of paperwork. Our SFA module is just what every college bookstore needs: an innovative, fully integrated application that simplifies and clarifies managing all types of financial aid transactions, no matter how complex.

SFA Features Designed for Today's Busy Bookstore
.	Multiple Grant Support
.	Split-Tender Capability
.	Tax-Specific Processing by Grant/Award Type
.	Date Sensitivity to Individual Grants and Awards
.	Purchasing Control by Grant/Award Type
.	Compliance Management on All Purchases
.	Customer Receipts Showing Use and Remaining Funds
.	Real-Time Updates to Student Accounts
.	Total Integration with the MBS POS System

A Sophisticated System Able to Handle Every Type of SFA
While there are many types of aid that the bookstore encounters, most SFA falls into one of three categories: federal, state, or local/third-party sponsorships. Within these three types, there are many variations of grant types, including Pell, Vocational Rehabilitation, ROTC, and Employer Grants. While each of these kinds of aid has its own stipulations regarding effective dates, taxability, merchandise type, and reporting/billing, the MBS SFA Solution is sophisticated enough to handle them all.

Getting Started with a New Approach to SFA Processing
Historically, systems have been designed to manage the SFA process as a generalized consolidated Accounts Receivable transaction. MBS recognized the need to manage the SFA transaction at a more specific level and designed our SFA Automated Processing Solution to allow each bookstore to configure its system for the types of grants that will be accepted by the individual operation. The effort involved in this initial set-up, as well as maintenance, is minimal. The set-up for each grant type includes assigning transaction priority, taxability status, purchase restrictions by merchandise type, and a billing flag that applies the charge to the sponsor’s AR balance. The transaction priority and billing flag are features unique to the MBS system.

With the aid types set up, your bookstore can receive individual student records that include all of the SFA grants available for use. Three methods are available to build this student account database: manual data entry, batch file download, or real-time updates. Once the student account database is loaded, the bookstore is ready to process SFA transactions. From here, cashiers need only select the SFA tender key on the register and enter the student’s account or ID number to trigger automated processing.

Simplified Split-Tender Purchase Transactions
Many times in the SFA transaction, a split-tender process is necessary. It is important that a POS system easily split the transaction across SFA grants as well as other tender types when there are insufficient funds or the transaction includes merchandise that cannot be purchased with grant monies. The MBS SFA Automated Processing Solution handles this scenario easily at the POS without requiring additional cashier involvement. By doing so, stores do not need to provide specialized cashier training to handle SFA transactions. Additionally, stores do not need to conduct SFA transactions at special checkout lanes or with “SFA knowledgeable” cashiers, because all registers on the system can handle these types of transactions. Just think about how much time you’ll save during rush, not to mention how you’ll reduce cashier and customer confusion and frustration!

Automated Controls to Eliminate Overspending
As more grants become available, the ability to prevent overspending has emerged as a critical bookstore function. With MBS, the SFA transaction details are posted to the student’s account and respective individual grant balances on a real-time basis. This speed and accuracy provides the bookstore with a control system to manage the overspending of grant funds by students who make multiple purchases during the same day.

Making the Returns Process Simple and Efficient
Processing returns for items originally purchased with student financial aid doesn’t have to be a hassle. With MBS’s SFA Automated Processing Solution, the transaction is processed as a standard return and the SFA funds used in the original transaction are automatically posted back to the student’s account and appropriate grant-type balance. This update of the account and fund balance occurs on a real-time basis so there’s no delay if the student wishes to make an immediate purchase.

Compliance Reporting and Billing
Upon expiration of a grant, the bookstore must generate the compliance reports for the Financial Aid office. It is critical to include the supporting detail in the reporting process to ensure that reconciliation with the granting entity is timely and creates an accurate audit trail. Through a networked interface to the Financial Aid office, the information that is required in these reports can be transferred electronically, thus eliminating the volumes of compliance paperwork that have historically been par for the SFA course.

Grant reconciliation that is managed by the bookstore must be handled in a similar manner as above. The key difference is that the system must be capable of posting transaction details to the granting entity’s account in an Accounts Receivable system. By automating this capability, the MBS SFA Solution allows the bookstore to consolidate the data into a single invoice for the granting entity. Once the invoice is generated and issued, the AR balance will be carried as an aged receivable until payment is made.


	If you're ready to get started, or you'd like more information about Student Financial Aid, contact your MBS Systems Territory Manager or call 800-325-4138.

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MBS Textbook Exchange, Inc.
2711 West Ash Street
Columbia, MO 65203
800-325-0530
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