Jasper Ross

What is your name?

Jasper Ross

What role do you do?

My day-to-day is working within the finance department to manage students’ funding through DSA and ensure that this is all in place and running smoothly, allowing them to continue receiving the support they need to excel in higher education.

I also compile statistics relating to the support we provide, then present that to management in a digestible way so they can make decisions that will benefit the business and our clients. For example, the number of hours remaining in a student’s budget enables the student to form a plan around their remaining time, such as accurately planning how long a support professional should spend proofreading specific essays. This empowers the students to direct support towards core aspects of their studies, which assists them in examinations and essay writing.

For management, statistics, such as a client’s support records, enable them to manage a client’s budgeted hours to ensure that our clients have the most up-to-date information relating to their remaining budget and support provision and, where needed, can be assisted to request additional financing when projects are over the original projection.

This support tracking allows us to forecast support so that budgets can be spent effectively before the clients run out instead of requesting more support after they have already run out of hours.

Why did you choose this role?

I chose a finance role as I have always been good with numbers and computer software. Finance combines both through using multiple software such as Customer Relations Systems and Accounting software to keep track of support, invoicing and bills and using Excel to keep track of anything needed outside the software’s scope.

This interest and experience in Excel led me also to compile statistics for the company as I was most suitable for the role. Compiling statistics is a crucial element of the financial process and an essential aspect of assisting management in making decisions on current and future projects.

I also chose this role because it allows me to support clients who need the support to have equal access that their peers intrinsically have, in my own way with my talents. That alone puts this role above other finance roles I could have chosen.

What do you enjoy the most about your role?

What I enjoy most about my role is it’s rewarding in several ways. For example, when it comes to collecting data for statistics, it is a massive project that takes many hours. We have supported over hundreds of students this year, leading to 6143 sessions of support provided. Gathering the data for all those sessions was a phenomenal task, but looking at all the work you have done once it is complete is enriching.

Another example is that helping clients fund their support is rewarding when we receive emails thanking us for the support and letting us know how much it helps them succeed. Knowing that I played a part in that, even if it is in the background, brings a sense of pride that you can’t get elsewhere. This compounds when you see someone supported by us for many years complete their degree and move on to the next step in their life.

The difference support can make for disabled students and their futures is unbelievable.

What are your favourite aspects of being part of the office team?

My favourite aspects of being part of the office team are that everyone has their quirks and personalities that meld together into some homogenous goop of wackiness, whether it’s preaching the Bible, oversharing your life, starting a new competition every Friday (cartwheels, handstands, forwards rolls) or stealing things from the office (allegedly).

However, despite this quirkiness, everyone truly cares and values the students we work with. They all work unbelievably hard to provide support and meet the student’s needs no matter what they may be. In addition, the office team is incredibly accommodating, not only to our clients but also to each other, always willing to help each other when needed, whether work-related or with life outside of work.

The team is full of outstanding individuals I am delighted to have met and worked with to bring access to those who need it.

What is your favourite moment/story from within the office?

My favourite moment and continued moment within the office is the on-running joke of Daryl creating too many companies. This leads to the team making up company ideas and names following the Complete name format. Examples include Complete Repentance as a church, Complete Comfort as a company that sells chairs, etc.

Any tips or advice you would share with those in similar roles?

To anyone in a similar role, collect data one step at a time. Thinking about the project as a whole can be disheartening. You may start to doubt yourself and find it hard to plan for the project, as not all clients are the same. For some students, it can take ten minutes to compile the data you need; others can take over an hour, and as you go along, you may think of ways to improve the data, such as by adding different categories, which will increase the length of the project. But, despite all of that, it is important to consistently keep at it, even if it just a little bit each day alongside your other day-to-day jobs.