Miami opens a one-stop central point to help students
Michael Kabbaz
written by Ritter Hoy, university news and communications, ritter.hoy@MiamiOH.edu
A new Miami University Oxford One Stop for Student Success Services opened today, Nov. 10, as a central point of contact for all questions concerning enrollment, registration, financial aid, student records, billing and payments.
Michael Kabbaz, vice president of enrollment management and student success, talks about how One Stop works for students.
Q: What is One Stop?
A: In the past, if you had a question about your bill you might start at the registrar, be sent to financial aid and then be directed to the bursar. Those things are frustrating, especially for students. Now One Stop will answer everything, on the spot. We’re changing the way Miami University views customer service. We’re not collapsing or consolidating services, we’re actually increasing them. It’s not the idea that we can solve everything, but if you call us we’re one stop away from getting whatever you need.
Q: And how does it work?
A: Students and parents can go online to www.miamioh.edu/onestop, email or call 513-529-0001. Within 24 hours you’re guaranteed an answer. If you don’t get a reply in that time frame, the matter is escalated to a person whose job is to make sure it’s done. If it goes outside of this office, we’ll make sure you get a response.
Q: How did the concept of One Stop develop?
A: Upon my arrival in May 2011, I was handed an Accenture recommendation to create efficiencies around the offices within enrollment. Our response was doing a lot of benchmarking around the country, and the One Stop model seemed like the right choice. It’s certainly more efficient, and it changes the student service experience. It’s total care management.
Q: How was the One Stop concept then implemented at Miami?
A: We are so far behind. Miami is a paper-driven institution. We’re changing the mentality of the offices. One Stop is the idea that there’s an entire staff whose full-time job is to see things as integrated. Now the bursar’s office sees itself as just handling bills and registration. We believe we can actually increase student satisfaction with One Stop. Student satisfaction impacts things like retention, and that’s why One Stop is connected to the new division of student success.
Q. What future plans do you have for One Stop?
A: We will be increasing our online offerings and adding online chat in the spring. You may just have a quick question like, ‘I have priority registration, but I don’t know when it is.’ Imagine if students could just IM somebody at 2 a.m. and have their questions answered immediately? We may need extended hours at certain times, and people will work based on phone flow.
Q: How will you know if One Stop is meeting its goals?
A: Customer service metrics are in place, and we’re tracking everything. Every email that comes to us automatically gets tracked. We’re tracking every call. We’re going to be able to say numerically in a given week, we had 300 students come to us about financial aid or any other issue. We are living out this mission statement. ‘We will better support the entire student lifecycle from recruitment to graduation to lifelong students.’
Miami’s Oxford One Stop for Student Success Services is on the north side of the Campus Avenue Building, with its main entrance on Spring Street. It’s operating under normal university business hours as of now.
