The Bursars Lite Professional Certificate
The Bursars Lite Professional Certificate (BPC) is a vocation-based designation which indicates mastery in the Bursars and Student Financial Services Profession. This program covers the knowledge and skills needed by a Bursar to improve processes, leadership and team building, customer service, office safety and security. The BPC program is recommended for current bursars, bursars office staff/cashiers, collections, accounting staff and controllers.
PDG has teamed up with Darla Freeborn for the instructional design of the BPC program.
Content Overview
Leadership skills – team building, conflict management, employee evaluations/goal setting
Collections/Student Loans - tuition and loan accounts
Tax forms – 1098T, 1098E, 1042S, Form 8300
Daily operations – Accounts receivable management, bankruptcy, customer service, internal controls, cashiering/money handling, fraud, safety & security.
How to Get Started
Purchase the materials for your certificate - $349.00
Listen to each audio session and follow along with the synched presentation
Complete each session skills test with 80% or greater accuracy
Use the BLPC insignia on your resume and professional profiles
Flaunt your BLPC lapel pin at future Bursars Conferences and industry events
Program Benefits
Be recognized as an expert in your profession
Better employment opportunities may be possible
Professional recognition
Employers will see you as an asset
Demonstrate that you are qualified to do your job
Demonstrate that you are dedicated to improving your knowledge level
Become more familiar with all aspects of the position
Stay up to date with regulations and current issues
About the Instructional Designer: Darla Freeborn
Darla Freeborn has been the Manager of Student Accounting Services at Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington, for over 16 years. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in History Education and a Master’s degree in Education Administration. Darla oversees the operations of the University cashier, student accounts and collections, and the Perkins and Institutional Loan office. During the last several years, she oversaw the implementation of several e-commerce and paperless applications. She currently serves on Whitworth’s Educational Review Board, Retention Task Force, Financial Literacy Team, and several other committees. She regularly presents information at on-campus student financial literacy and orientation sessions. Prior to joining the staff of Whitworth University, Darla was involved in business and industry. She was the staff accountant for a highway construction company and the plant manager in a manufacturing facility.
Expectations & Accountability
Martie Adler, Indiana University
One of the primary issues leaders face is accountability. The only way to be sure that you have a solid platform for performance and behavior, is to make sure you have set the expectations. This session takes you from theory to practice to implementation and provides a model to support you as you build skill as a leader.
Foundations of Trust
Martie Adler, Indiana University
Lack of trust is a global issue with a cost to every organization who does not address it. Think about it: absenteeism, workarounds, unproductive meetings, and the list goes on. A leader’s primary focus must be on creating and developing an organization whose foundation is based upon trust. This session will give you some solid information to begin building trust within your organization and/or team.
Making Goals & Evaluations Count - What’s the Final Destination?
Geri Landwehr, University of Northern Colorado
What is the final destination? Creating measurable, attainable and meaningful goals. Getting buy-in from your employees so they can make the most of their work experience and be happy in their jobs. Because as we all know, happy, fulled employees make for a better place to work!
Let's Talk Tax Forms
Darla Freeborn, Whitworth University
Is your relationship with your 1098T, 1098E, 8300, and 1042S tax forms tenuous at best? In this session, we will try to ease the tension between you and your forms by covering that all-important, need-to-know information that will help you to successfully produce and file your various tax forms. Included will be the basic information you'll need to have before forms can be generated; the IRS requirements regarding large cash payments, charges, tuition payments, interest reporting, scholarship and grant reporting; processing the forms whether you produce them in-house or outsource them; how to make corrections to your files; and uploading your final files to the IRS through the FIRE website.
AR Best Practices
Torri Williams, Georgia State University
Adapting our practices is critical to continued success and performance. Serving our customers must be the ultimate goal, and should weight any decisions about where to focus of our efforts. But we must work within the policies and laws by which we are governed. Torri Williams provides a concise process - and road map - for navigating these concerns while best utilizing the assets and resources available. Torri’s approach leverages small, manageable steps to get maximum return on efforts at process improvement.
Process Improvement in the Bursars Office
Bill Edmunds, Gentleman’s C Higher Ed Consulting
Striving for a simple, cost-effective organizational structure helps us reach the goal of financial stability. This module focuses on the basics of Business Processing Modeling to document Current State as an initial step to improving performance. You will come away with a blueprint for process improvement that helps make every transaction accurate, intuitive and convenient for your customers.
Bankruptcy, Tuition, & Loan Accounts
J. Scott Watson, of J. Scott Watson, PC
Everything you need to know about the FDCPA but were afraid to ask.
Fraud: A More Focused Look
Brenna Dixon, Oklahoma State University
This module provides a closer look and focus on the fraud schemes most frequently seen related to cash handling and activities that take place in the Bursar’s Office. Definitions and examples of fraud schemes, red flags and controls will be examined.
Separation of Duties
Kala Williams, Drake University
Cashiering and Student Accounts job duties - who should do what, when duties cannot be separated, and what compensating controls should you have in place? Are you aware of your weaknesses?
Customer Service: Defusing Complaints
Ellen Harris-Small, Rutgers University (Retired)
Each hostile situation is different. There is no magic secret to defuse someone's anger. We will be working on solutions to establish the calm after the storm.
Refunds
Requests for refunds will be honored only if notification of cancellation is received in writing within ten days after registering. Cancellation by telephone is not sufficient. Registrants who fail to cancel will not be refunded their registration fee. A $50 administrative fee will be charged for all cancellations. Once event or program is complete attendee will not be allowed a refund. Substitutions may be made if registrant cannot attend. Please notify PDG of substitutions by email at refunds@prodev.com
Cancellations and Substitutions
In the event of cancellation or change in event date, registrants will be notified by email. Professional Development Group II, Inc. will not be responsible for expenses involved with a cancelled event. PDG reserves the right to substitute speakers without notice.