All Program Reviews for Business Services
| Academic Year | Status | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-2026 | Submitted | Current |
Business Services
2025-2026 Program Review
1 ) In 3-5 sentences, describe your unit to an audience of potential students. Many units take this information from their website. If it has been awhile since your unit has updated its website, take this opportunity to design a brief description of your unit for today’s students.
The Business Services Office at American River College supports students and the campus community by managing financial operations and providing essential fiscal services. Key functions include student account support (tuition, fees, payment plans, refunds, 1098-T forms), parking services, and financial transaction processing. The office also supports departments through purchasing, travel, payroll coordination, hiring processes, and budget and grant management.
The office processes a high volume of financial transactions that directly impact students’ ability to enroll, remain enrolled, and complete their educational goals. Business Services plays a critical role in reducing administrative barriers that can delay registration, financial clearance, or access to campus services. As a central hub connecting students, departments, and District systems, the office ensures compliance, accuracy, and timely service delivery. Increasingly, the unit is leveraging technology, such as eForms and digital workflows, to improve efficiency and accessibility for both students and staff.
2 ) Who is disproportionately impacted in your unit?
The Business Services Office serves the entire campus community, including students, faculty, staff, administrators, and external partners. While disaggregated data specific to our services is currently limited, we recognize that certain populations may experience barriers in navigating financial processes.
Students who are first-generation, non-native English speakers, or unfamiliar with college financial systems may face challenges understanding payment deadlines, financial holds, and refund processes. Additionally, students experiencing financial hardship may be disproportionately impacted by delays, lack of awareness of payment options, or the timing of refunds. Students who rely on timely financial transactions to support their enrollment and living expenses may be particularly affected by processing timelines.
The absence of disaggregated service data represents a current gap, and developing the ability to better identify and assess disproportionately impacted populations will be an important focus moving forward.
In the following program-level metrics, a green-yellow-red light icon provides a quick sense of how a particular data set's values relate to an established threshold (click '+' for details).
The following data sets may be useful in promoting and informing departmental dialogue, planning, decision making, and resource allocation.
Disproportionate Impact
The disproportionate impact (DI) links now direct you to your unit’s DI data in ARC Data on Demand. The DI data will show which student groups are experiencing disproportionate impact for course success rates (A, B, C, Cr, P), A-B rates, and course completion rates (students who did not withdraw) at the course level.
In addition, a new report on intersectional DI (e.g., ethnicity/race by gender) is available for assessing intersectional Di for course success rates. The intersection DI report defaults to the subject code level (e.g., all ENGWR courses). Use the org tree in the side bar to filter to individual courses (click on the right arrow next to American River College, right arrow next to your division, right arrow next to your department/discipline, then select the specific course to view).
If prompted to log in, click on “Log in with ARC Portal” and enter your Los Rios single-sign on credentials (same as Canvas or Intranet).
3 ) What equity advancing actions have your programs already taken?
The Business Services Office has implemented several practices to improve equitable access to services:
- Providing translation services at the front counter and via telephone, along with multilingual staff support
- Distributing campus-wide communications with clear instructions on financial processes, deadlines, and expectations
- Implementing ARC-specific eForms to streamline workflows, reduce processing delays, and improve access to services
- Conducting outreach and regular meetings with departments to improve understanding of financial procedures
These efforts have resulted in improved accessibility, reduced processing time, and increased transparency in financial operations. The implementation of eForms has significantly reduced backlogs and improved tracking and accountability. Standardized communication has helped reduce errors and resubmissions, while multilingual support has enhanced the office’s ability to effectively serve a diverse campus population. Ongoing collaboration with departments has also improved alignment between financial processes and program needs.
4 ) What will be your unit’s strategies for eliminating disproportionate impact (DI)?
Moving forward, the Business Services Office will focus on the following strategies:
- Expanding training and outreach to improve understanding of financial processes across campus
- Developing clearer, student-friendly guides and resources to explain key financial processes (e.g., payment deadlines, holds, refunds)
- Enhancing digital access and self-service tools to reduce reliance on in-person transactions
- Evaluating communication methods to ensure information is accessible, clear, and timely
- Partnering with Student Services to better align financial processes with student onboarding, retention, and success efforts
- Assessing turnaround times for key services to ensure timely support for students and departments
- Incorporating feedback mechanisms (e.g., surveys, department input) to continuously improve service delivery
Business Services is committed to continuous improvement, operational efficiency, and reducing administrative barriers to support student access, retention, and success.
5 ) What support do you need to eliminate disproportionate impact (DI)?
To further advance equity and improve service delivery, the Business Services Office would benefit from:
- Enhanced data access and reporting tools to better identify disproportionately impacted populations and assess service effectiveness
- System enhancements and integration with District systems (e.g., PeopleSoft) to reduce manual processes and improve efficiency
- Continued partnership with IT to expand automation, improve eForms functionality, and enhance digital workflows
- Additional staffing or cross-training support to manage workload demands and ensure timely service delivery during peak periods
- Ongoing training resources to ensure staff remain current on evolving financial regulations, compliance requirements, and system updates
These supports will enable the office to continue improving service delivery, reduce barriers, and better meet the needs of the campus community.