Kellee,
You bring up an excellent point. That is one thing that we take pride in. All of our departments work together and our students take notice of that. Not only do they see this coming in as a prospective student, they see this throughout the course of their program. Each department ensures that someone is always available to address a student need and/or concern. Communication among departments is essential.
There are posters and information documents in the student lounge about student borrowers. Faculty is not really involved. Some ways that they can become more involved would be to have posters in the classroom and meet with faculty to discuss the option of discussing borrower responsiblities at the end of class. Our student services department is always willing and able to discuss borrower responsiblities together with the financial aid office.
Laura,
I especially appreciate your final point. Too often, we rely on pre-scripted entrance/exit conversations and stock handouts. Understanding the unique concerns and challenges of students and their families helps us provide the information and resources most needed.
Kellee Gunderson
Admissions and FA work as a tandem team to support our students through the enrollment process. Both departments respond appropriately to questions that arise so I think in that respect, we do a good job. Always room for improvement, of course. In many ways, I think our faculty is still assimilating to a “corporate†environment and don’t always consider the bigger picture. Our students come from all walks of life and deal with a never ending array of circumstances. Remembering this is something we can do better at and incorporate thoughtfulness around this in our routine discussions – both in and around the classroom setting.
Keeping faculty involved is important as they will be the team that interacts with students on a daily basis. Students may feel more comfortable discussing things with them and they can be a great resource for keeping information up to date.
MARIE ,
I am glad that you have been able to work with your faculty! We have spoken to some schools where the FA office struggles to build a good working relationship with other departments. Cooperation is important – each team interacts with students differently, so the information they have access to differs also. We are less likely to end up with high-delinquency skips if we gather new student data from faculty, registration/records, and career services.
Kellee Gunderson
We recently started getting our faculty involve with helping admission dept.
Sandra,
It is great that your faculty wants to be involved! We have heard from some FA offices that struggle to get the rest of their organizations to participate in delinquency prevention, so it sounds like you are already ahead of the game.
Kellee Gunderson
Our faculty is try to stay in constant contract with our students. We have created workshops, posters, to help them understand and to answer any questions they may have regarding their financials and loans.
Marjie,
I am pleased that this strategy has worked for you!
If we do not talk to students, we will never know what ideas may be ruminating- they may be thinking of dropping out, postponing graduation, or choosing to pursue a completely different plan of study, all of which will affect their total debt and their repayment date. Encouraging communication helps us understand the needs and challenges of students so that we can better counsel them.
Kellee Gunderson
I have been brought this topic up at team meetings and been able to get Education to allow FA to step in for 5- 10 minutes at each term to remind students of our presance as well as their responsibilities with student loans. This seems to help as students are more likely to come talk with us before they make decisions such as "status changes" which affect their aid and may put them in repayment earlier than previously scheduled. Team communication is key to make the students see that we are one team and not several different departments.
John,
While it may not be possible for FA to be physically present in the classroom, some of our participants have found a successful compromise where faculty pass along messages or simply allow notices to be posted on a conspicuous classroom wall alerting students that FA wishes to see them.
We hope that you are able to help your institution understand the importance of a united effort toward delinquency prevention. If you are not initially able to engage faculty, perhaps there are other departments that can set a good example such as tutoring, advisement/registration, career services, or even the bookstore. It’s great that admissions is already on board, because students' early interactions with your school will teach them to expect open communication with helpful staff.
Other participants have received positive feedback from faculty after explaining the various consequences of high or low default rates. Aside from the obvious benefits and sanctions, a school’s reputation with students, parents, and prospective employers can be affected.
Kellee Gunderson
Our admissions office works with applicants to get good references and contact information. There are also posters in their office area to support default prevention efforts. Currently, our faculty are not involved at any level to help and FA are not allowed to go into the classroom during class time. FA needs to make a separate appointment with the student outside of class time which increases the difficulty to get things done. I have suggested to the Education manager to have FA make a presentation during a faculty meeting explaining the importance of default prevention but it has not been implemented.
kellie,
It is great that FA is invited to work so closely with Admissions. Too often, students breeze through the loan application process and as a result make terrible financial decisions. We should be sure to thoroughly explain the choices set before them so that students can begin to understand the long-term realities of borrowing. Educating admissions and faculty about debt burden and cost of education is helpful so that when students are deciding whether to take time off or grades start to drop, everyone can understand the consequences. Likewise, other departments can help educate FA, for example career services can help us better understand job outlook and income expectations for the industry so that we are more informed and realistic when counseling students on setting up household budgets and planning for repayment.
Kellee Gunderson
Dr. Manuel,
How exciting for your institution to be starting off on the right foot! You can benefit from the example set by successful schools and from seeing the challenges faced by your peers; all of this information will help you build a default prevention plan that works for your school.
Because your students begin payments so early, you have the opportunity to work with them closely and teach them good habits. Your institution will be able to think not in terms of default prevention but of delinquency prevention - intervening early when students face difficulties and preventing small problems from becoming unmanageable late-stage delinquencies.
Kellee Gunderson
Our faculty allows us each term to participate in the College Success class where we present our "Dealing With Debt" workshop. The faculty is always ready to give the FA department a helping hand. I think utilizing the idea of collecting updated contact information at the start of each term would be a tremendous help in our efforts to keep up with the student.
The admissions team always invites a financial aid staff member into their interviews the moment a student has questions about student borrowing.
We could definitely benefit from more default prevention material in the offices of admissions.
I think both departments could benefit from a presentation of what students are getting into with student loans, how much they typically borrower and how much their payments will be. I think if those departments understood what type of an investment the student is making in their education they would be open to help us educate them along the way. Do financial aid departments typically educate their admissions and faculty to that extent?
Admissions and faculty are not involved in default prevention efforts. Our school opened its door in the fall of 2012 and has not graduated the first class of students yet.
The school provides financing for students. In turn students are required to make monthly payments with the remaining balance paid after graduation. The monthly payments that start at the beginning of the program create a payment habit and responsibility for repayment of the loan. Collaboration among departments and faculty makes sense as a strategy to reduce default.
Donn,
Thank you for this thoughtful reflection on the efforts of your institution. It certainly sounds like you have a strong foundation, including a reputable faculty and industry credibility; integration of budget consciousness into the business curriculum and admissions process; and attention to the challenges students face outside the classroom. Leveraging the possibility of licensing requirements will also be helpful.
Good luck in increasing the visibility of your default prevention team among students and staff!
Kellee Gunderson
In looking at the extent to which our faculty and admissions contribute to default prevention, I would say that my school could use some improvement. The faculty for the most part is contributing a lot, but not because they are aware they are doing so. Our faculty has a lot of success in our business and they impart that knowledge to our students. The faculty also focuses on all aspects of being successful in our business. The more successful our students are, the less chance that they will default on their loans. Our business teacher also teaches the importance of a budget and how to develop a workable budget.
Admissions helps in default management in that they have all students develop a budget for the period of their attendance. This helps in the area of student retention. If students are working excessive hours outside of class hours (5.5 hours per day M-F), we can help the student navigate both those commitments through to graduation. The other part of this is the student who is financially strapped, we can help figure out how they are going to make it through to graduation.
I can first help the faculty by thanking them for their dedication in graduating students who are successful in our profession. In addition, I can meet with the faculty and discuss ways that we can incorporate awareness and knowledge about loan repayment as a business expense. In some states, being licensed is contingent upon having good standing with student loans. We currently do not have any posters in the admissions office, so adding posters can get the students to think about repaying these loans they are taking in order to reach their educational and business goals. There are probably many other things I can do to increase the involvement of our staff and I hope to learn them as our default management team progresses.
Brenda,
I am inclined to answer both yes and no. In some respects, we want them to be a little stressed out, to understand the responsibility they have taken on so that they plan appropriately. When my peers began taking out loans our first year of college, I witnessed a lot of shopping and trips to Vegas, all funded by excess loan money. I also met students who dropped out and re-enrolled several times because they did not take their academic or vocational goals seriously, and they certainly did not consider the bills that were amassing and money that was wasted. If we had all been a little more stressed out about the cost of education and better understood what our monthly payments would be after graduation, we might have made different choices.
On the other hand, your concern is quite valid. A student facing family, job, or financial stress is a student that might struggle academically or give up too easily. I believe that is where our compassionate and helpful interactions make a difference. We can teach them early and often that obligations are not to be dreaded because they are planning ahead and will be able to easily tackle repayment after successfully completing their program of study.
Kellee Gunderson
