After careful study and months of planning, Virginia’s Community Colleges are embarking on a transition to a new cloud-based financial aid system that 
promises to revamp and improve the financial aid experience for students and staff. Starting this December, six of our colleges (Eastern Shore, Germanna, Northern Virginia, Piedmont Virginia, Tidewater and Virginia Peninsula) will begin to pilot the Student Financial Planning (SFP) system, from Oracle. Oracle’s cloud-based SFP product is the next-gen upgrade to the Oracle Financial Aid module in Campus Solutions that’s been in use at our colleges for more than twenty years.
Oracle says that by implementing SFP, our students will gain real-time financial aid awarding, visibility into future year eligibility, and access to tools like informed borrowing guidance — all through a more intuitive student portal that supports timely disbursements and mobile-friendly document submission for both students and parents. This transformation supports our broader mission of student success and operational excellence.
Owens
“The Financial Aid module in PeopleSoft Campus Solutions has served us well for more than two decades. With Oracle’s shift to cloud solutions, we’re exploring a transition to SFP,” said VCCS Financial Aid Director Laurie Owens. “Our goal is to automate financial aid processing, enhance student engagement, and improve the user experience for students and families.”
“Piloting SFP with select colleges will help us assess its impact before broader adoption. We’re partnering with Sierra-Cedar to support a successful implementation,” Owens added.
Project timeline:
Students and staff at the six pilot cohort colleges (ESCC, GCC, NOVA, PVCC, TCC and VPCC) will begin using SFP in December 2025 for the 2026-2027 Financial Aid Year. Piloting to a small initial cohort of colleges allows us to thoughtfully assess the SFP implementation, gather valuable feedback, and refine our approach to better support future phases of the transition. VCCS leadership will consider adoption of SFP across the remaining 17 VCCS colleges upon reviewing the pilot cohort implementation.
How to learn more:
The VCCS has posted web pages with more information, including timeline details, FAQs, and provides an intake form where people can ask questions and/or offer feedback.
