Connect with Students to Reduce Cohort Default
Rates
February 14, 2014
Agenda
 Best Practices that Reduced the Cohort Default Rate. – How
did we do it?
 Provide Financial Education - Importance of Being Proactive.
 USA Funds Tools that have Successfully Reduce Cohort
Default Rate.
– USA Funds Life Skills;
– USA Funds Borrower Connect; and
– USA Funds Borrower Connect InTouch.
Successfully Reduce the CDR –
How did we do it?
•Educate all campus administrators and faculty on the
issues and establish a task force.
•Identify the factors causing the institution’s cohort
default rate to exceed the threshold. Who is “at risk”
on your campus?
•Develop and implement a campus wide default
prevention strategy that includes working with
students while they are on campus and after they
leave your institution.
•Establish measurable objectives and identify specific
actions the institution will take to reduce the default
rate and improve college completion.
Financial Education is needed throughout the student’s
experience.
Stage 1:
Application and first 90 days
Communication
with students after
they leave the
institution.
Stage 4:
Alumni
Counseling and
orientations
The Life
Cycle of a
Student
Stage 2:
In-School Period
Financial literacy,
student success and
retention efforts.
Graduate and
Career Counseling
Stage 3:
Last year and Graduation
What is USA Funds Life Skills?
 USA Funds Life Skills teaches students to manage their
finances and time wisely during school and after graduation.
 The program:
– Provides measurable and successful financial literacy
training.
– Teaches students to avoid debt problems.
– Reinforces the importance of repaying student loans.
– Helps students stay enrolled through graduation.
– Available at no cost to your institution.
9
Features and Benefits
 Gives students money and time management advice and the
tools they need to graduate on time, minimize their debt and
take responsibility of their student loans.
 Encourages better understanding of financial skills and
promotes better repayment, which ultimately lowers cohort
default rates.
 Customizable curriculum:
– Provides flexible delivery to fit existing processes.
 You decide which courses you want student groups to
take.
– Courses can be assigned to specific student segments.
 You decide which students or groups of students you
want to target.
– Students can complete courses on their own, in a
classroom setting or using a combination of both.
USA Funds Life Skills
 Topics are presented as part of a curriculum of more
than 30 online courses, including:
– Financial aid and paying for college.
 Applying for financial aid.
 Managing student loans while in school.
 Repaying student loans.
– School and personal life management.
 Setting and achieving goals.
 Managing time while in school.
 Living on a budget.
– Credit and money management.
 Managing credit cards and debt.
 Understanding credit reports and credit scores.
 Setting savings goals.
USA Funds Life Skills
– Graduating students.
 Establishing career goals.
 Estimating expected income and take-home pay.
 Preparing for an interview.
– Graduate students and adult learners.
 Paying for a graduate degree.
 Managing debt and controlling spending while in school.
 Budgeting while pursuing a graduate degree.
– Couples in school.
 Having a life with little money.
 Coping with school and a relationship.
 Managing money while in school.
Best Practices
 Link financial education to other on-campus events,
programs and student organizations.
 Make it part of the process of being a student (academics).
 Don’t be afraid to make it mandatory.
– “They don’t know that they don’t know!”
– “They think they already know!”
 Start small and build from there.
USA Funds Borrower ConnectTM
 Web-based tool that helps schools connect with
borrowers to improve cohort default rates and promote
successful student loan repayment.
 Automates borrower communication through telephone,
letter and email campaigns.
 Aggregates data schools upload from loan servicers,
National Student Loan Data System and other sources.
 Creates communication campaigns that can be targeted
to address borrowers in various stages of repayment.
 Communications encourage borrowers to remain current
on loan payments or seek assistance from lenders or
servicers to restore loans to good standing.
– Stock letters and email templates are provided, and can be
personalized with school-specific information and logos.
USA Funds Borrower Connect InTouchSM
 Staffing solution that provides the benefits of borrower
counseling – without the work.
 Dedicated, focused resource for individually counseling
borrowers about their options for repaying their loans.
 Communication efforts:
– Remind borrowers of their loan obligations and
responsibilities.
– Discuss available options and help establish an
achievable and affordable repayment plan.
– Ensure borrower contact information is up to date.
– Promote long-term repayment success.
USA Funds Borrower Connect InTouch
 Communication campaigns at different stages:
– During borrower’s grace periods.
– At various stages of delinquency.
 Contact campaign activities include:
– Both phone and email contact.
– Multiple attempts to contact borrowers by phone.
– Three-way calls with borrower and servicer.
 Access to real-time monitoring through USA Funds
Borrower Connect.
– All completed and ongoing campaign activities.
 Reported success measures include:
– Number of borrowers contacted.
– Number of successful counseling sessions.
– Number of grace period borrowers who make payments within
first 30 days of entering repayment.
A nonprofit corporation, USA Funds® works to enhance
postsecondary education preparedness, access and success
by providing and supporting financial and other valued services.