TMCC’s Financial Aid Department (FA) stores about 14,000 hardcopy files, and processes approximately 7,000 new applications a year. FA workers were running out of space to house all of the files when they were told their office might be moved, resulting in the loss of their file room altogether. Since they are required by the U.S. Department of Education to keep files for four years (sometimes longer depending on a specific regulation) they knew converting to an electronic file system would save both time and money while serving their students better.

The question was which electronic file system to choose.