Innovation as a Strategy: How Tulsa CC Modernized Pre-Collections to Decrease A/R

Introduction

At Tulsa Community College (TCC), navigating today’s higher education landscape means embracing innovation beyond the classroom — in the systems that shape the student experience. As many institutions face financial strain and uncertainty, TCC represents one side of the sector’s “tale of two realities”: colleges that are adapting and thriving by modernizing how they operate.

By taking a collaborative, data-driven approach, the student accounts team, led by Bursar Dawn (Chelle) Davidson, has revitalized its billing and collection practices — aligning teams, modernizing workflows, and improving outcomes for both the institution and its students. Rather than relying on legacy, one-size-fits-all processes, TCC has focused on targeted improvements that address specific gaps in the tuition billing lifecycle.

The most recent of those improvements focused on a critical but often overlooked window: the six-month period between the end of a semester and referral to traditional collections. By implementing Meadow PreCollect, TCC introduced a more intentional, modern approach to pre-collections — increasing outreach and engagement during this period while reducing A/R.

“A lot of colleges have done it the old way for so long that when you get that A/R crisis, it’s like — what do we do?” Chelle shared.

TCC’s experience shows how focused innovation in the right place can strengthen institutional resilience while better supporting students.

The Challenge

The challenge at TCC had a familiar refrain: the team knew there was a gap in how past-due balances were managed — but lacked the capacity to address it manually.

TCC had strong systems on both ends of the receivables lifecycle. Students were set up with viable financial plans at enrollment, and unpaid balances were referred to collections six months after a term ended with generally strong results. The issue sat squarely in the middle. During that six-month window, the team wasn’t consistently engaging students — not for lack of effort, but because they didn’t have the tools or capacity to sustain manual outreach at scale.

“We don’t always have the staff and resources to do this ourselves… the cost is just too much to try to do it manually.”

With an average of 16,000 students per semester, even well-intentioned follow-up quickly became unmanageable. Monthly e-bills and occasional paper letters often went unread, particularly among students who weren’t planning to return or had disengaged from email. With no real way to track student behaviors, it was difficult to know which students might return and how TCC might support them.

WATCH: The middle part of receivables

While reducing reliance on collections wasn’t the initial goal, TCC recognized that collections often damaged the student relationship — and that there was an opportunity to do more during this in-between period.

“Once it goes to collections, students tend to get a little disgruntled… it’s just kind of a negative.”

The Solution

TCC implemented Meadow Pre to bring consistent engagement and a modern, scalable workflow to the “middle” of receivables — the period after a semester ends, when accounts are past due, but not yet in traditional collections.

Meadow Pre’s mobile-first outreach, particularly text messaging/SMS, proved essential for reaching TCC’s diverse student population, which includes working adults, career changers, and high school students.

“When you walk through the school lobbies… you see students and they’re on their phone constantly. So to me, it was just a natural next step of how to reach our students.”

SMS was especially effective for TCC’s dual enrollment population, which makes up roughly 25% of students and is far less likely to engage through email.

“That population especially is not great with reading emails… we’ve seen tremendous success with Meadow Pre reaching these students via text message.”

Meadow Pre also improved coordination between student accounts and financial aid. Balance reminders often prompted students who believed aid should have covered their bill to re-engage and resolve missing documentation or verification issues.

WATCH: Unanticipated alignment

Finally, Meadow Pre replaced a heavily manual, in-house payment contract process with automated, flexible payment plans — reducing administrative burden, freeing staff to focus on student support and giving more students the ability to pay over time.

“You guys do all that work for us, so it frees my staff up to do other things.”

The Results

The impact of Meadow Pre was both immediate and compounding — improving financial outcomes while easing operational strain and supporting student momentum.

Within the first seven months of implementation, Tulsa Community College recovered nearly $200,000 in past-due payments through Meadow Pre — far exceeding internal expectations.

WATCH: Less students sent to collections

“I expected maybe $50,000 a year from you guys, but in the first two months, probably close to $300,000 in payments received.”

Those gains were not limited to one-time payments. Meadow Pre also drove a meaningful increase in students enrolling in automated payment plans, creating a more sustainable path to resolution for balances that might otherwise age out.

• 50–60 students enrolled in Meadow-managed payment plans for spring and summer alone
• Dozens of manual, in-house payment contracts eliminated — freeing staff capacity

Meadow Pre’s success in resolving past-due balances meant TCC sent less students to traditional collections, even as enrollment increased 7%.

Compared to the same period last year:

• A couple hundred fewer students were sent to collections
• A couple hundred thousand dollars less was referred overall

“Theoretically, I should have had to send more to collections… but I’ve been able to send less.”

For students, earlier engagement and flexible payment options meant a clear path to persistence. Meadow Pre enabled many students to reduce balances to below enrollment thresholds, allowing them to register for the next term instead of stopping out.

“It helped those students get on a manageable payment plan… so we could allow them to enroll for the next semester.”

That ripple effect supports retention, progression, and completion — outcomes that matter deeply at a community college serving learners across generations and life stages. Operationally, the shift away from manual outreach and in-house payment contracts removed a significant burden from an already maxed-out team, allowing staff to focus on students rather than paperwork.

“To be able to take something off our plate — it’s really nice.”

Why It Matters

At TCC, improving past-due A/R activated a flywheel that reinforces student success and institutional strength. Earlier engagement leads to resolution; resolution enables enrollment; enrollment supports retention and completion.

“The less people that owe, the more people can enroll and continue their education… it’s a domino effect.”

For community colleges, that flywheel is especially powerful. These institutions are central to upward mobility, serving learners across generations. At TCC, most graduates leave without debt — positioning them to transfer, advance, and build long-term stability.

“We want our students to learn to be fiscally responsible adults… and we try to be as compassionate and helpful as we can.”

TCC’s experience reflects a broader truth facing higher education: the future belongs to institutions with bold vision and a laser-focused approach — those willing to innovate with intention, address high-impact moments, and modernize the systems that matter most.