Why is there a growing trend of colleges going paperless?
The answer goes beyond simply an effort to be more environmentally friendly—though that’s certainly an important benefit.
Colleges and universities that have a paperless campus are able to be more effective in how they operate across every department, including:
- Admissions
- Enrollment
- Registrar
- Financial Aid
- Accounting
Going paperless actually improves the lives of students, faculty, and staff at your university, and in more ways than one. Here are three benefits of going paperless in schools:
- A Better Student Experience
- Improved Document Security
- Streamlined Operations and Increased Efficiency
Keep reading to learn more about each one.
1. A Better Student Experience
Enrollment numbers across all of Higher Ed have been down for the past several years (though that may be turning around), which means that schools have become more competitive than ever.
One of the key focus areas that universities are turning to in order to differentiate themselves is to create powerful student experiences, especially at the undergraduate level. Schools are taking every opportunity to be as engaging as possible—and making sure that message is being shared with prospective students.
Are You Providing a Stale Student Experience? Here’s How to Tell.
Going paperless is one of the ways that your institution can offer a smoother, more seamless student experience. Allowing students to access everything they need in one location, including their grades, transcripts, schedules, course registration and enrollment, payments, and documents reduces the headache of not knowing where to access important information or having to save paper copies of everything.
2. Improved Document Security
Paperless campus and document management go hand-in-hand. In order to effectively go paperless at your school, you need a strong document management strategy so that all of your digital documents are secure, organized, and easily accessible.
When you think about all of the financial information and PII that you collect from your students, you know that it’s absolutely essential that that data remains secure.
How does a paperless campus improve document security?
First of all, document management platforms like Verity are specifically designed with the highest levels of security while keeping the documents organized and easy to access by both students and university staff.
The second reason is much simpler: paper isn’t secure! It’s very easy to misplace an important document or risk it being placed into the wrong hands, whether by accident or maliciously. Avoid potential risks by going paperless.
3. Streamlined Operations and Increased Efficiency
One of the biggest benefits of going paperless is the opportunity to embrace workflow automation that improves efficiency at every level. It makes everyone’s jobs easier, reduces staff burnout and fatigue, and frees up your team’s time for more important initiatives. Being a paperless campus enables you to eliminate the repetitive, error-prone processes that tend to take up too much time.
When you go paperless, you can automate:
 e-Signatures |
 Document Hubs |
 Enrollment Workflows |
 Form Builders |
 Online Payments |
 Application Requirements |
The more that a school uses Higher Ed software to streamline its operational efficiency, the more profitable it becomes. Learn more about that in our guide: The Higher Ed Workbook for Automation, Profitability, and Improving the Student Experience.
