How Niagara University simplified past-due payments and boosted retention
Find out how this small private college reduced manual workloads, improved past-due account processes and empowered staff and students.
Niagara University was navigating new laws and overworked staff caused by past-due payments.
Like many colleges, their challenge was all-too-familiar: How could they effectively reach out to students with past-due payments without overburdening staff?
When director of student accounts Jacob Kopera joined Niagara University, his team spent way too much time manually adding data and tracking down late payments. Plus, they needed to pivot quickly, optimizing their past-due account processes before new state and federal laws.
That’s where RecoverySelect came in.
A Quick look at Niagara University
Largest independent university in the Northwest
4,000 students
97% of grads are employed or in grad school within 1 year
34.2% resolution rate 200 RecoverySelect accounts per year
Empowering students with friendlier processes
RecoverySelect is an online solution that helps students pay off overdue tuition and fees without going into collections. Its primary goal is to keep students enrolled in classes by giving them full transparency and 24/7 access to manage their overdue accounts.
Once a student is entered into RecoverySelect, ECSI manages the rest. Students have up to 90 days to take action. During that time, a dedicated team of customer service advocates follow up on a consistent, compliant outreach schedule, offering flexible repayment plans and options to help the student.
Students can pay their balances with a plan they can afford — and a schedule they can set — while continuing to pursue their education. They can also set up automatic payments that are deducted directly from their checking or savings account on a particular day each month.
” I would highly recommend RecoverySelect. It provides a consistent structure for the in-house collections process, with a focus on resolving the account before it goes to a collection agency.”
— Jacob Kopera, director of student accounts at Niagara University
Happier staff, less manual overhead
RecoverySelect takes the administrative burden off Niagara University. By integrating with the university’s student information system, it tracks relevant account information and payments that staff don’t have to manually input.
Staff are happier now: No more endless spreadsheets of overdue student accounts and unreturned voicemails. The new technology gives the team an objective way to move overdue payments into a dedicated process, freeing up time to foster student success.
Compliance paperwork — at your fingertips
If the process is successful, students stay in school and the university recovers their tuition, typically faster than before. If it’s unsuccessful and the debt goes into collections, then the RecoverySelect platform can assist this process with automated agency placements and supporting compliance documentation.
A structured solution with a clear ROI
Niagara University restructured their past-due payment processes and won back more revenue from unpaid accounts. The technology doesn’t replace their staff but allows them to automate tedious outreach and compliance tasks. They’re able to create more efficiencies, like better cash flow, faster account resolution and a consistent process their staff can easily learn and use.
Since launching RecoverySelect, Niagara University has increased its past-due account resolution rate to 34.2%, helping approximately 200 students per year re-enroll. It’s a win-win for everyone: The university is recovering unpaid tuition. Staff are reducing workloads and working smarter. And students are earning their degrees. I would highly recommend RecoverySelect. It provides a consistent structure for the in-house collections process, with a focus on resolving the account before it goes to a collection agency. — Jacob Kopera, director of student accounts at Niagara University Schedule a
@2025 Educational Services, Inc., a Global Payments company. All trademarks and service marks contained herein are the sole and exclusive property of their respective owners.