Reducing Barriers Linked to Financial Holds at California State University, San Bernardino
Impact at a Glance
Reduced financial barriers to student enrollment
Forgave nearly $2M in student debt tied to re-enrollment
Increased the number of students who re-enrolled or remained enrolled
Met university fall enrollment targets
Built stronger cross-functional collaboration around student outcomes
The Challenge
California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB) enrolls approximately 20,000 students each year and has a strong commitment to student success. Leaders identified financial holds from unpaid account balances as a significant barrier to enrollment and retention.
These holds prevented some students from registering for classes and, in many cases, contributed to students leaving active enrollment. CSUSB wanted to identify strategies that could:
- Reduce financial barriers to registration
- Reengage students who had stopped attending
- Improve student retention and enrollment
- Strengthen collaboration across departments
- Better understand the impact of financial policies on students
The university brought together leaders from Finance, Student Account Services, Financial Aid, Advising, Advancement, Institutional Research, and the College of Extended Global Education to address the challenge.
The Action
CSUSB used NACUBO's Guiding Questions for Student-Centered Decision-Making to keep students' experiences and needs at the center of discussions about financial policies and procedures.
Working across departments, the team:
- Established shared goals for enrollment, retention, and re-enrollment
- Developed a standard student account balance report
- Revised debt forgiveness guidelines
- Connected debt forgiveness with commitments to re-enroll, register, and attend classes
- Strengthened collaboration across the divisions involved in the initiative
The approach helped CSUSB move from identifying financial barriers to implementing policies and processes designed to bring students back into the classroom.
The Results
Immediate Impact
- Forgave nearly $2 million in student debt through the re-enrollment campaign
- Increased the number of students who re-enrolled or remained enrolled after financial holds were cleared
- Achieved the university's fall enrollment targets
- Reduced accounts receivable balances and the allowance for doubtful accounts
Process Improvements
- Established a standard student account balance report
- Created a sustainable debt forgiveness approach tied to re-enrollment
- Strengthened collaboration across student-facing and administrative departments
- Extended the approach through a related initiative supporting international students
Ongoing Momentum
- Evaluate outcomes from the initiative each fiscal year
- Continue cross-functional collaboration to identify and reduce barriers
- Use the Guiding Questions to inform new initiatives and evaluate existing efforts
- Build capacity for continuous improvement in student outcomes
“This resource and our improvement project helped us realize what is possible when we work across departments toward the same goal. We plan to use this tool to determine new initiatives and evaluate the performance of existing ones.”
Maria BadulisUniversity Controller, Finance and Administrative Services
