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Amidst the countless challenges posed by Covid-19, universities and institutions needed to shift to the digital world. Cal Poly Pomona transferred a sizable part of their bookshelf from college campuses to a digital platform by partnering with Verba VitalSource.
Through their collaboration with VitalSource, and utilizing their revolutionary technology, Cal Poly Pomona noticed a striking growth in their digital growth. Watchman Payment Systems made that transformation manageable.
Suzanne Donnelly recently sat down with Lisa Montgomery and Tom Hirtzel of Verba Vitalsource to discuss their efforts and the role Watchman Payment Systems play. Check out the podcast below.
The Story Behind the Cal Poly Pomona Partnership
Back in March of 2020, when Covid-19 had only just started attacking the world, college campuses all over were already scrambling to adapt to virtual instruction. Suzanne recounts that that led the organization to quickly put changes into motion.
“When word came down from the California State University chancellor’s office that all instruction would be virtual both for summer term and fall, we knew we needed to figure some things out really fast.”
– Suzanne Donnelly, Cal Poly Pomona Senior Associate Director
This led to a multi-way partnership resulting in Instant Access to a staggering 300 courses for the fall semester. Here they prioritized adapting to the sudden changes and ensuring easy access to course materials to support both students and her store. In turn, Cal Poly’s Inclusive Access Program noticed a dramatic digital progression.
Watchmen Payment Systems helps Verba Vitalsource and Cal Poly Pomona’s Bronco Bookstore scale rapidly
Existing methods of billing student accounts struggle to scale at most universities with expansion of digital and virtual education. However, Cal Poly Pomona thrives on making access to course materials easier.
That’s where Watchmen Payment System steps in.
Watchmen Payment System is a unique payment solution specializing in the Higher Education Space. Watchman helps institutions access financial and third party aid programs and apply IA charges, seamlessly. As such, connecting Cal Poly, Verba Vitalsource, and Watchman was critical to support this level of rapid growth. The alternative would have been an overwhelming amount of manual work for campus staff.
“We had just gotten to where charges were being pushed directly from Verba to PeopleSoft, but it wasn’t catching students who were on different third party payment programs. So every campus has a whole bucket load of different programs like that, and on our campus is a pretty significant number of students who qualified for those types of aid. It was not going to work when we got to 300 classes and 22,000 students.”
“WPS was a Godsend!”
Cal Poly’s instant access program grew by 400% because of the rapid response to this challenging time. The combination of partners, integrated by Watchman, made Cal Poly’s ambitious goal into a reality.
Learn More
Check out the Case Study created by Verba VitalSource and watch and read as Watchman continues to publish content about the benefits of its services for schools undertaking their digital transformation.
Read more on our IA Billing service or contact us at sales@watchmanpayments.com
