A customer for 8+ years, Bryant & Stratton College uses signNow to ease student paperwork burdens and accelerate college admissions

Bryant & Stratton College has been providing an education to students for almost 170 years. Campuses can be found in 18 locations in 8 markets across 4 states, with a very popular online division also available. 

With about 10,000 students and 1,900 staff members across so many locations, the paperwork process has potential to be a nightmare.

Thanks to signNow, the college admissions process associated with massive amounts of student paperwork has become seamless, consistent, and highly efficient. We spoke with Doreen Justinger, Vice President Emeritus, to learn more. 

Finding the right eSignature solution to solve paperwork woes 

Doreen has been with Bryant & Stratton College for 35 years and has held various positions, including VP of Online Education and Chief Information Officer. In 2015, when she was overseeing the online education program, it became quite apparent that paperwork was an ongoing issue. 

“With our online program and students being fully remote, it was very difficult to manage the volume of students that would call us or email us trying to get a handle on their paperwork,” explains Doreen. “With our financial aid process, it became almost impossible to get documents signed. With the need for wet signatures, and our students being dispersed all over the country, that’s when we started to explore eSignature options.” 

Initially, not all staff members were on board with going digital, but as their online division continued to grow, it was clear that going digital would save a tremendous amount of time, and would improve the student experience. 

Doreen and her team considered various eSignature solutions before landing on signNow as the solution that would meet their needs, but also be cost-effective. Given that moving to a digital process was new for the college, it was not initially accounted for in their budget.  

“For me, it was all about price,” says Doreen. “DocuSign and signNow seem very similar, but you can’t compete with signNow’s price. It’s easy to use and we have been consistently using it and growing. DocuSign has tried to steal us away multiple times, but they can’t compete with signNow’s pricing.” 

What truly started in the financial aid office has grown across the entire college system. All campuses now use signNow, in various departments from Admissions to Academics to Payroll.. 

“We kind of strongly encouraged signNow onto other departments and campuses. It’s just so easy to use and has made our staff much more efficient. In my role as CIO, I was instrumental in getting adoption across the board.” 

—Doreen Justinger, Vice President Emeritus at Bryant & Stratton College

Saving time, money, and headaches

Bryant & Stratton prides itself on being a college that provides a highly personalized experience for their students as they navigate the process towards a successful career path. With Associate and Bachelor degree programs available, many Bryant & Stratton students study to become nurses, medical billing and coding admins, business professionals, or paralegals to name a few. 

For a lot of these students, they are finding their way to Bryant & Stratton on their mobile devices first, versus using a laptop or a computer. Being able to work with students who are constantly on the go is crucial.  

“The fact that signNow is mobile friendly is huge for our students,” says Doreen. “Being able to sign up on their smartphone is critical. A lot of them are going through the signup process on their phones, while they’re at work or caring for their families, so we’re happy that signNow has made this process easier for them.” 

In 2015, when Bryant & Stratton first started using signNow, it was unfamiliar territory for a lot of students. They were not used to digital signing and the B&SC staff got in the habit of calling prospective students as soon as they received their student packets to guide them through the process. Even though today’s student body is well-equipped to handle the digital signing process, B&SC staff still call them to walk them through what they’re signing, as so much of the information is sensitive. 

“Using signNow has really allowed us to give students a great experience,” says Doreen. “We call them and walk them through the process because it’s the B&SC way, but being able to remove any hassle out of signing up to come to our school really sets them up for success.” 

Prior to using signNow, the handling of documents was messy, but so was storing them. Once the staff got through the process of making sure they received completed, error-free documents from students, they faced the time-consuming task of organizing and filing that important paperwork. 

“All of our filing cabinets are now empty,” explains Doreen. “Stopping the printing and filing process has probably saved us at least one salary each year. By the time you print, walk over to the printer, scan your documents, file them, and so on, it takes so much time. We can use those savings to hire someone for student support tasks, to improve our college and our student experience.” 

It’s been a decade of growth for Bryant & Stratton College and we look forward to continuing to be with them every step of the way.

Bryant & Stratton College used signNow powered by AWS.