The last 18 months have been unprecedented in the rapid rate of change in education funding and surrounding financial climate. Consider the number and rate of the changes that schools have been asked to make. Many alternative lenders exiting the market completely, the Department of Education requiring more transparency between schools and lenders, and the FDIC increasing account protection limits to avoid panic by consumers, to name a few. Families have been left scrambling to pull together strategies to pay their increasing college costs as they find their saved education dollars declining in value. Combined with the highest unemployment rates our country has seen in decades, this has created a perfect storm for families and schools. This session is a study that challenges the traditional model of the best way to pay for college.

Barry Klassen is a Relationship Manager for Tuition Management System, and has been with the organization for 2 years. He has over 12 years of sales and service experience, with more than 10 of these years dedicated to working with faculty and staff in higher education areas of student lending. Barry has experience in all phases of our work with schools, however; his keen understanding of student and family needs provide special insight to the strategic use of our payment services to enhance recruitment and retention. In addition, he brings a commitment to our company’s mission of helping families afford an education, and ensuring that our schools are consistently achieving positive results. His multi-faceted experience has proven invaluable in understanding the specific needs of each school community, and determining which services Tuition Management Systems provides can be of greatest value. Mr. Klassen is a graduate of Oral Roberts University with a B.S. in Marketing.