Improving Service Delivery and Reducing Operating Cost

The development and application of advanced technologies have been a part of Todd & Associates’ senior staff experiences for more than 22 years, beginning with Dr. Jim Todd’s pioneering use of computers in the administration of financial aid programs at the University of Houston in the early 1970s. The U.S. Department of Education officials were so impressed with his advanced technology based delivery systems that they convinced the University of Houston’s senior officials to loan him to the Dallas regional office. There, he provided technical support to more than 350 institutions in that region, and shared expert advice on national financial aid issues.

Since those early days, Jim has maintained a continuous involvement in the growth, development and use of advanced technology-based solutions for student financial aid delivery systems. As an early advocate of distributed processing and integrating various micro (Apple, IBM, etc.) and mainframe computer systems, Jim’s firm has completed an impressive array of system related projects:

1979-1983 Operated a regional federally approved computerized needs analysis service for colleges in the southern half of the country. Processed student financial aid applications and transferred data electronically to each institution.

1980-1990 Established a service bureau that processed on-site financial aid transactions and generated reports to satisfy various federal, state, and local requirements for college and university clients. A distributed processing approach was used for some clients and micro stand-alone units were used to meet the needs of others.

1987-1989 Won competitive bid from the State of Louisiana to establish a statewide computer based Pell grant award and disbursement system for forty-seven vocational and technical institutions. Todd & Associates designed and installed a turnkey IBM PS2 computer system software program that handled award calculations, payment processing, document tracking and business accounting functions that met federal and state requirements. This system replaced the federal Alternate Disbursement System (ADS) that was discontinued by the U.S. Department of Education. The firm was retained by the State during subsequent years to provide updates, prepare procedures manuals and conduct annual training for the forty-seven institutions using the new Todd & Associates Louisiana Pell Grant Disbursement System.

1987-1997 Won competitive bids and was selected via sole-source arrangements that resulted in the development, implementation and integration of programs supported by local area networks (LAN) and mainframe based student information systems. Also, assisted clients in the selection and adoption of off the shelf software programs such as SCT’s Banner, IA’s FAM, and IA plus versions, College Scholarship Service’s Microfaids and many others including POISE, SAFE, ED TECH, EDE Express, Direct Lending, private lenders, Title IV WAN, etc.

We Help Integrate Systems to Achieve a Simpler and More Reliable Process