Ceola,
I like the idea of having the reminders posted around the school and keeping faculty advised of the times. So many people are also juggling jobs and families that appointments can often be unintentioanlly overlooked. Having reminders displayed in prominent locations can help keep you on track.
Cheryl Kesson
Students should be notified in advance of the Entrance and Exit interviews. A contact person, phone number and the place for the interview should be provided. Reminders of the interviews can be placed in the student lounge, in the halls even the bathrooms. All the faculty should be aware of the happenings. Have appointments, and stick to the time line, maybe give some small token of appreciation for the student that keep the appointment,( pens, cups,
a "Thank You" certificate ).
tiera,
A perfect combination! When you follow up online loan counseling with personal interviews you get that all-important opportunity to focus on the remaining questions students have and anything they may ahve misunderstood from the online information. I have found that you can never repeat key information about repayment plans and options too many times!
Diana Mateer
I have found that doing a c ombination of both online and one on one in person interviews work effectively. By allow the student to complete the informaton online first then one on one with you you allow that student to take ownership of their loan obligations. The one on one interview then is a tool to reiterate the information the student has learner online and disspell any misconceptions that the student may have formed. Also as we all know repetition is key is the more times the merrier!
In my opinion it would be more effective entrance and exit interview online because the student can be completed anywhere you have internet access.
An in person meeting is very beneficial. A good suggestion for stuents is to have them keep anything they recieve in the mail regarding FA in a folder. Even if they don't open it at the time if they run into trouble in the future they can bring that folder in and it's something you can go through with them to make it less intimidating.
Since we sometimes have students taht refuse to pick up their email or snail mail- or campus mail- an in person meeting is probably most beneficial overall- but we need to contact them in a class room to make sure that they hear the message to come in for discussion.
In my school we do both online and one-on-one. We always explain to the students and give them the opportunity to ask questions and then we direct them to the web page for their entrance or exit counseling session online. This double enforces their rights and responsibilities while still giving it the personal touch.
Our college has individual campuses along with an on-line bachelor's degree program. We have found at the individual campuses we now have a Default Prevention Specialist who presents the Entrance counseling presentation within 30 days after school starts and the Exit interview presentation is given 30 days before the last day of school. These are given in a classroom setting and encourages interaction from the students. The Financial Aid department also give an individual interviews with each student. This process has helped greatly, as the students get to know the DPS while attending school and are able to visit when they have questions. Our on-line program is participating in these presentations as a requirement and also given an individual telephone interviews with a financial aid representative. These relationship-building financial literacy programs have proven to be very successful for our campuses.
I think doing a one on one exit interview with students is more effective because you are able to go over the subjects in more detail. At our university we do them online which is more convenient for students that study out of the area.
Having on-line counseling available may be a good option to get a withdrawn student to complete an exit interview but chances are the only information you will have is from the entrance interview.
Making sure you get as many references as possible in the beginning (and verifying them if possible)is a great practice so if the student does withdraw you have plenty on file to assist in getting in touch with them.
I thin that group entrance and exit counseling allows the student to ask more questions. It also allows us to obtain better references from the student.
The hard part is for those students who withdraw. Is on-line counseling working better for those students?
I agree Jennifer. I would love to do our Exit and Entrance counseling in person or in a group setting. My school is an online school with students all over the country and in Canada, however and we are unable to manage these sessions in person.
We currently use an online service that does interactive counseling with a quiz at the end very similar to this course, but without the forums. I am just now wondering if we might be able to add such a forum and require participation as this course does.....I still wish I could view the ever important facial expressions and body language you refer to in order to better judge if a student is "getting it".
One on One or Group Exit Counsleing can both be effective. The key is using repetition to ensure that each student understands the key points in the obligation of repaying their student loans before leaving.
I don't think it's bad to do group Exit counseling, I always open it up to Q & A at the end, and questions always come up that i may not have covered and other students hadn't thought of.
Amanda,
I think it is wonderful that you have the resources to conduct entrance and exit interviews on an individual basis. This gives you the opportunity to ensure all the students questions are answered and they are fully aware of their obligations in repaying their student loans before leaving school.
Our school prefers to conduct both entrance and exit interviews individually with each student for the most effective results.
I believe that one-on-one would definitely be more beneficial; however, with the large number of graduates, it makes it difficult. Does anyone have any suggestions/strategies on how to make one-on-one interviews more effective when there are large numbers of gradutes that need to be met with?
After many years of experience I firmly believe group sessions are the way to go. You have questions one student might not think of but another does which in the long term aids both. There is also a sense of comraderie in knowing all the individuals in the room are facing the same set of circumstances more or less and that repayment goals and success are universal.
In our exit sessions not only do we provide the required information we provide our "Financial Aid Booklet" that was originally provided at Orientation and Entrance Interview but now the emphasis is placed on repayment, deferments, etc. as well as infromation on business loans, consolidations, home loans and many other pertinent aspects of the graduates future.
If the student is properly prepared in the beginning, reinforced during enrollment, prepared again at the Exit then a success rate is inevitable. Graduates as well as current students have to know that financial aid services and advice does not end at graduation, it just moves to another level and that we follow them through as needed until loans are paid in full.
One on one interviews are more effective and give the student a sense of personal care from the financial aid department of the school. It also helps establish a relationship with the student and from my experience, quite a few students feel comfortable coming back to me with any questions that they may have. We reinforce our students by telling them that any papers they receive and don't understand, should be brought into the financial aid offices and we will answer any questions and explain the papers to them.
