Getting admissions and faculty involved...
To what extent do your faculty and admissions offices contribute to your institution's default prevention efforts? Identify steps you can take to increase their involvement.
Faculty and admissions play a big part in our students success from start to finish of their program. We have weekly meetings so everyone is updated on students progress.
Ana,
It's great that you have the assistance of the other departments. Financial Aid cannot do it alone and default prevention really requires a team effort and it is wonderful that you have everyone involved. I think it can be difficult at first to get other departments to see the impact they can have but once things are in place and working hopefully everyone can celebrate low cohort default rates knowing their contributions aided in the success.
Cheryl Kesson
Admissions is without a doubt an integral part of default prevention, initiating understanding of the costs and responsibilities of their education. At our campus, their assistance in not just obtaining but also confirming references during the enrollment process would further our efforts. Our faculty is updated weekly during staff meetings regarding any students with pending financial aid issues and are diligent about sending in students regularly and updating administration about all student concerns. They are also immensely helpful in versing students about the importance of not only work ethics but personal & financial ethics as well.
Drops seems to be the most overlooked student population in many default prevention conversations. Strong and effective exit counseling is important, but we cannot focus only on students who are still with us at graduation.
How do you tackle student retention? We have heard from schools that offer “college success†workshops or promote remedial courses to students with weak academic backgrounds. We have also seen faculty intervene early when grades or attendance begin to falter, attempting to spot potential drops while there is still time to offer tutoring or counseling support.
I also like the idea of extending job placement or career search assistance to students that leave prematurely- they cannot make student loan payments if they are unemployed, and the courtesy helps our reputation with the student and their family/peers.
Jeffrey,
This is a great attitude to have and it is good to see that the entire staff works together to be successful. One department alone cannot take on the job of creating a financially responsible student and each staff member who interacts with them can impact their future in different ways. You are correct that students who do not complete have a higher chance of defaulting and extra emphasis on retention and helping the student succeed to completion and beyond will positively impact default rates.
Cheryl Kesson
All faculty and staff share in our school's success or failure. We educate the educators, as well as other staff members of the importance of default prevention. Great emphasis is placed on student retention as 'dropped' students pose the greatest threat of defaulting.
Leroy,
Cooperation from other departments is so essential in helping manage default rates and I am glad to see they are working with you. I think when borrowers see that it is important to other staff at the school, especially faculty, they realize what a priority it is.
Cheryl Kesson
There are default prevention booklets in the admissions offices and the faculty is more than willing to let financial aid address the class either at the beginning or the end of class. If students are need in the financial aid office the instructors make sure they come in a timely manner.
alexandra,
It sounds like you have identified some clear ways to improve your delinquency prevention efforts. We hope you find success when speaking to Admissions and faculty; please come back and share your experiences with other participants!
Kellee Gunderson
they currently don't contribute at all but they should get more involved this is defiantly something to discuss in the next meeting
Our Admissions department is my partner in assisting me with default prevention. Of course they do not offer FA advice, but do mention to the students who have loans and remind them of repayment obligations. Our faculty makes time for me to visit classes and discuss the students' fa and repayment.
Tina
Robert,
I hope you find success engaging your colleagues! For some colleges, integrating financial topics into the curriculum makes sense- for example, business and accounting courses can teach students how to calculate the interest accruing on their loans to demonstrate the impact of income-contingent repayment plans and capitalization. Other schools simply invite FA into the classroom so that faculty does not feel obligated to cover content they are not trained for. Increasing the visibility of the financial aid office in this way has the added benefit of encouraging students to seek us out again later, should additional questions arise.
Kellee Gunderson
Our Admissions Offices have posters and paperwork reminding students of their debt obligations. I would love to see our Faculty take-on a greater role in this area. The Faculty see the students nearly every day and can have a powerful impact on them. Perhaps the Faculty can devote some occasional class time to discussing the topic of loan repayment?
Amber,
That would be a great approach for your organization to take. Having admissions gather extra student and reference data is helpful because students are usually more willing to provide information at that point. When they arrive at the Financial Aid office, students may tend to be more guarded about references because of privacy concerns and the association with debt collection.
As for faculty, perhaps they can find natural points where collecting updated student information makes sense, such as releasing test scores and grades or providing extra study materials via email or postal mail.
Kellee Gunderson
Our admissions department does help by getting most of the student information, but it would help if they also were responsible for getting refernce information and calling those references. Our faculty is very accomodating in allowing us into the classroom but we should also use them in getting updated information. I could talk directly to admissions and our faculty and discuss with them information they could get and pass on to me that helps with default prevention.
Matt,
Thank you for sharing- we are very pleased that you were able to bring down your rate. I hope that other participants can learn from your experience and encourage their organizations to take action long before they are facing sanctions. Too often, this sort of “wake up call†is needed for everyone to take the concerns of the Financial Aid department seriously, but as an industry we can raise awareness and help each other act in the best interest of the students (which ultimately also benefits our coworkers and peers).
Kellee Gunderson
Our admissions department and faculty has been informed along the way about the new changes in regulations and the impact the 3 year cohort default rate would have on our longevity. We experienced two years above the 30% threshold. Fortunately we came in at 28% in 2011 so we avoided penalty but it has been a big wake up call to all staff and faculty. Now we have posters in admissions and have had instructors incorporate the importance of taking care of your financial obligations.
Mala,
I hope you can receive some helpful feedback from other participants facing the same challenges- faculty has been a fairly popular topic for us in these forums.
Several previous posts have observed that even passive support from faculty (e.g. allowing FA to have a small amount of class time for announcements) can be beneficial. Involvement can range from offering a classroom billboard for FA notices all the way to integrating budget and personal finance into the curriculum; each school determines where on that spectrum their faculty and students receive the most benefit.
Kellee Gunderson
Although Admissions has been particularly supportive of our efforts, the faculty often resist contributing to the process. I'm not sure if it's because they feel they have enough challenges with the students already, and don't want to be bothered. I'd like to hear from others who have to deal with this push-back from faculty.
