Marjie,
I could not agree more enthusiastically!
I completed my own loan counseling online for every college I attended, and it was amazingly easy to click through without reading the content. I do not recall any entrance or exit counseling that truly tested my comprehension, let alone internalization, of this important information. No wonder that in my first years of school, I took out the maximum loan amount and used the excess to live beyond my means. I did not take my loan debt seriously until many years later, after the balance had exploded and I finally understood how much my monthly payments would be.
I would sincerely wish to prevent new students from making the same mistakes!
Kellee Gunderson
I am a fan of the "one on one" or "face to face" process. i believe it is too easy to click "next" when you have not read the documentation. Althouh I find that the younger gerenation does it more frequently, i have seen older generations do it as well. At least with the "one on one" we are engaging the student for about 20 minutes.
Edgar ,
Yes, we cannot emphasize this enough! A lot can happen in students’ lives over the course of just a few months, and touching base with them throughout enrollment is crucial. Perhaps a student was working part-time but recently lost his job, or perhaps another student is struggling with class assignments and is in danger of dropping out. Reminding students of their loan obligations and asking them what resources or support they most need will help retention and completion rates, as well as lower default rates.
Kellee Gunderson
Sandra,
Excellent plan! It is ideal to meet with students in person, rather than rely on online exit counseling.
Bringing in additional speakers can also be helpful in unexpected ways- perhaps a student feels more comfortable with one person’s personality, or better understands the way a certain FA representative phrases information. Easy to overlook details such as the tone of voice we use or our natural mannerisms and cadence can unintentionally affect whether a student feels engaged.
The way each of us takes in information is unique, so offering variety in our presentations can help ensure the maximum number of students walk away satisfied.
Kellee Gunderson
We are offering our upcoming grads an Exit Conseling class, we bring a bank representative from the loans department, to answer all of their financial questions during the Exit conseling class.
Dr. Manuel,
Taking time for an in-person entrance interview helps students understand the information we present and allows them to ask questions. It is helpful to show students concrete information – make obligations real to them by demonstrating their estimated monthly loan payment and how much will be left over for food, gas, entertainment, and rent at their projected income level. Meeting in person also helps us better understand the student- their family makeup, financial situation, and unique challenges. With this information, we can tailor future interactions to their particular needs, making semester updates more effective.
Kellee Gunderson
We take the necessary time with the entrance interview to ensure the student understand their financial obligations. We provide students with updates every semester. We have not graduated the first group of students but we plan on having the exit interview a month before graduation.
I appreciate that you bring up grants and scholarships, a topic that has not been mentioned often in these forums. Our focus here is default and delinquency prevention, and an overlooked part of that effort is assisting students locate additional resources and helping them understand all of the ways they can obtain money for college. Bringing down the amount students need to borrow by helping locate scholarships and grants is immensely helpful.
Our city library has an entire “College Depot†devoted to resources including study guides for placement tests and extensive scholarship search materials. If individual schools do not have the resources to help students in this manner, community partners and libraries might be able to fill in the gap.
Myles,
I think you have a great approach. You are covering different point during the students enrollment, providing them information they can take with them and making yourself available for questions that arise. The steady contact and reminders throughout enrollment will go a long way to making your students successful when they leave.
Cheryl Kesson
We like most institutions do entrance counseling on the date of enrollment. At this point we go over the full financial package, provide the student with our third party servicer information and give them helpful tips to prevent defaults, make on time payments, etc.
We also meet with students halfway through their term to ask if they have questions regarding their Financial Aid Loans, Grants or Scholarships. That way, we make sure everything has been covered.
Towards graduation, we meet with students and prepare them for exiting. We review their loans, grants and scholarships. We ensure everything is on track and going smooth, answer any questions that come up and set an appointment for an exit interview.
As with all of these interactions, the student always receives printed notes, handouts, etc.
Is there more we should do? Or is this a good approach?
Erin ,
You are right that exit counseling, when done poorly, can be overwhelming to a student. Dumping a bunch of numbers and graphs into a handout, without personalizing the information and spending time with the student, leads to frustration. Helping the student understand exactly what is owed, what company or companies the money is owed to, and what to do when the student encounters difficulty, takes care and time, but it is definitely worth the effort.
Kellee Gunderson
This was very helpful. I have always looked at an exit counseling procedure to be over whelming for the student the reason for that is because the student is unaware of their indebtedness. So helping the student and counseling them, giving them valuable recourses and knowledge so that they can successfully manage their student loans.
Entrance counseling, along with regular ‘refresher’ sessions, is invaluable to students who may be inclined to over-borrow or make poor decisions early in their enrollment. Too often, students put off thinking about loans until payments are actually due, when they should be thinking about interest payments and household budget as soon as their first disbursement is received. Early planning will lead to long-term success, while rushed or insufficient entrance counseling does a disservice to students and can directly affect our cohort default rates.
Jeffery,
Entrance and exit counseling are both very important. Students need to be educated on responsible borrowing and the importance of paying back what they borrow. Additional touch points through out their enrollment should also be provided to ensure they fully understand their responsibilities.
Cheryl Kesson
Entrance counseling is very important for students to help them understand their debt obligation and how the repayment of the loans effects their financial future. Exit interviews should be used to educate the students on the different options that they have and repayment requirements they will be facing.
I like the idea of breaking out content into multiple mini sessions. This allows us to maximize students’ attention and also creates the opportunity to cover different themes or topics each time. These sessions could even be augmented with industry/career information or brief life-skills topics such as resume hints. By offering useful information in a fun way, we might be able to increase interest and attendance!
Karolina,
You are correct, having some different options and making them available at different times during enrollment will help the students retain what they are learning. While it can be a challenge to making Financial Aid topics interesting and engaging it is worth the effort and there have been some great ideas shared here in other posts.
Cheryl Kesson
Ways to improve our counseling would be to:
Reduce the number of students in the group sessions.
Have more than one session, offer a couple of mini sessions throughout the students program so we can address any concerns before it becomes too late or they forget.
Develop better take away products so that the information that we provide isn't just stuffed into a folder, make the material more engaging.
Todd,
Locating students in class is a proactive strategy that we can all learn from. Earlier we discussed the importance of involving all departments in our default prevention efforts, and this is an excellent example. If the financial aid office is siloed apart from faculty and career services, we lose many opportunities to engage students.
Kellee Gunderson
