Case Study: Five Towns College achieves streamlined financial aid operations and improved reporting with Campus Cafe

A Private Liberal Arts College Upgrades Its Financial Aid Software

Five Towns College, a private liberal arts college on Long Island with about 1,350 students, faced a heavy financial aid workload—95% of students receive some form of aid and roughly 70% receive Title IV federal aid. Using an older CampusVue SIS, the financial aid office struggled to manage multiple aid sources per student, relied on separate spreadsheets, had limited in‑system student communications, and lacked mobile access. Seeking a cloud-based, integrated solution, Five Towns selected Campus Cafe to replace the legacy system.

Campus Cafe implemented its integrated SIS with a built‑in financial aid module, student self‑service portal, CRM, auto‑packaging and EdConnect reporting integration. The vendor’s solution eliminated manual SSN entry and separate spreadsheets by allowing bulk uploads of awards to a student account (reducing processing to “a couple of minutes per student”), automated notifications and federal reporting, and improved interdepartmental access. As a result, Five Towns reports faster, more accurate loan packaging and reporting, smoother Title IV audits (records pulled for 75 students), stronger data security, and better student communications thanks to Campus Cafe’s tools.

Five Towns College

Jason LaBonte

Director of Financial Aid