Simplifying the Refund Process for Students

The need for online self-service in cases of student refunds became heightened during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the prioritization of the Banking Information project.

The Challenges:

Prior to the pandemic, students with a credit on their account would provide a void cheque to the Student Financial Services office to receive their refund by direct deposit. Staff would manually enter this bank information into Colleague and securely store the original document. With staff now working remotely, there were limited options for students to reasonably and safely provide their banking information. An additional challenge was the large number of refund requests – an increase of more than 4,000 – due to students receiving emergency bursaries and housing refunds.

The Solution:

Computing & Communications Services worked with Student Financial Services to make the Banking Information form on WebAdvisor available to students as quickly as possible, with the form going live in mid-April. Students are now able to securely enter their bank information online, and they can easily update their information if their bank account changes. This information is entered into Colleague automatically, eliminating the need for manual processing by staff. In addition, the storage of hard-copy documentation is no longer required. 

The launch of the Banking Information form demonstrates the ability of staff to pivot between projects and collaborate, while working off-site, in order to support students during this difficult time.

If you have questions about this project, contact the SIS Refresh Team using the contact form.