Loyola’s Financial Aid Department is working with the Higher Education Assistance Group for financial aid services starting immediately.
This has resulted in the firing of previous financial aid staff members. Anthony Jones, Vice President of Enrollment at Loyola said that after months of evaluation, multiple stakeholders recommended this change.
“Engaging with the Higher Education Assistance Group allows us to improve the services and responsiveness students rely on,” Jones said.
The Higher Education Assistance Group is a third party financial consultant that specializes in streamlining fiscal processes between the university and students, according to their website.
An email sent to faculty thanked any financial aid staff parting ways with Loyola and wished them well saying,“For those whose roles are affected by this change, we extend our heartfelt thanks for their many contributions to Loyola and its students, and we will provide supportive resources to help with their transition.”
Desiree Rodriguez, Kimberly Rankins, and Mary Musso, all financial aid staff members, deferred their statements to Jones and did not comment on the matter. Emmet Cooper and Russell Augestine, also financial aid staffers, did not respond for comment.
The email also says that the Higher Education Assistance Group has been hired in hopes of “improving response times, streamline processes, and to provide more proactive support as students move through their financial journeys.”
It was also noted that these changes only apply to the financial aid operations and not other offices on campus. Students seeking support on matters of financial aid can still seek help in Thomas Hall. Jones said that this decision was made with Loyola’s student body’s best interests at heart.
“We know how much our students and their families invest in earning a Loyola degree, and how vital strong financial aid support is to that journey. Engaging with the Higher Education Assistance Group allows us to improve the services and responsiveness students rely on,” Jones said.
Will • Mar 15, 2026 at 2:45 pm
Financial aid offices are some of the most specialized and regulated departments in higher education. The people who work there aren’t just answering phones or pushing paperwork. They’re navigating federal Title IV regulations, compliance audits, verification processes, loan programs, scholarship coordination, and institutional aid policies that can change year to year. When you lose experienced financial aid professionals, you don’t just lose employees—you lose institutional knowledge that takes years to build.
Unfortunately, what many of us have watched happen over the last few years is that experienced, qualified staff were slowly pushed out or chose to leave because of poor leadership decisions made by current and previous administrations. When seasoned professionals leave, what disappears with them is the understanding of how Loyola’s systems, students, and policies actually function day to day.
So when a new administration comes in and sees a struggling office, it can be easy to assume the department itself is the problem. But in many cases the issue isn’t the work being done—it’s that the institutional support and staffing stability that office needed was already dismantled.
Outsourcing may look like a quick fix on paper, but financial aid isn’t something you can easily hand off to a third party without consequences. Students benefit from staff who know Loyola, understand the local student population, and have relationships across campus. That kind of support doesn’t develop overnight through a consulting firm.
What concerns many people is that the decision seems to overlook the deeper context: the erosion of a qualified team that had already been happening. Instead of rebuilding and reinvesting in experienced professionals, the university appears to have replaced an entire department with an outside vendor.
Financial aid is one of the most critical lifelines for students. It requires stability, expertise, and people who understand the community they serve. When those elements are lost, the impact isn’t just administrative—it directly affects whether students can stay enrolled and complete their education.
That’s why transparency and honest discussion about how we got here matters just as much as what happens next.