A CAMPUS ADAPTABLE APPROACH TO
DEFAULT PREVENTION
2015 NYSFAAA Conference
Tuesday, October 27,2015
1:45pm to 2:45pm
Presenters
Patricia Thompson, Assistant Vice Chancellor, Student Financial
Aid Services
State University of New York (SUNY) System Administration
Email: Patricia.thompson@suny.edu
James Trimboli, Director of Financial Aid
SUNY Niagara County Community College (NCCC)
Email: jtrimboli@niagaracc.suny.edu
Carissa Uhlman, Vice President of Student Success
Inceptia
Email: carissau@inceptia.org
Session Objective
Discuss SUNY’s campus adaptable approach to
Default Prevention using customized early
Outreach communications during targeted
periods of early enrollment.
SUNY
SUNYis…
is …
• The nation’s largest comprehensive system of
public higher education
• 64 institutions: including research universities,
acad. med centers, liberal arts colleges, cc’s, agric. +
tech. institutions and a growing online learning
network
• 465,000 students and 2.4 mil alumni worldwide
• 88,000 faculty + staff
NCCC is…
• A traditional community college located
between Buffalo, New York and Niagara Falls,
New York- two of the poorest cities in America
• The first SUNY CC to participate in the Smart
Track Student Engagement Project
• Continues to show downward CDR trend
Inceptia is…
Building upon nearly 30 years of higher education
experience, helping more than 2 million students
in their pursuit of higher education and financial
management success, Inceptia was the
successful bidder and vendor for SUNY Smart
Track’s Financial Literacy Initiative.
Project Concept
Default Prevention with a Student Retention Twist!
• Initial project concept developed after Dept.of Education
(ED) announced move to 3 year CDR Format
• ED anticipated nationwide rise in CDRs: wider net of
possible defaults, in all college sectors.
• ED also encourages a default prevention approach that
promotes student success and financial wellness.
Just the facts…
According to federal data and research studies:
• Student Success is directly equated to Completion;
• Default is also directly related to Student Success,
not necessarily student loan debt;
• Most defaulters borrow only $5,000 and withdraw during
their 1st semester;
Just the facts (cont’d)…
According to federal data and research studies:
• Freshman Surveys continually report that many incoming
students are not academically prepared and are
experiencing financial distress;
• According to ED, a large majority of defaulters are
not contacted during their grace period and/or periods of
delinquency prior to default-leading SUNY to focus on
enrolled borrower communications.
Project Considerations
• Attack default prevention as a campus-wide issue.
• SUNY also uses System expertise as a Shared Resource.
• Identify Campus “Best Practices”-Incorporate into plan
• Use an “Intrusive Counseling” Model by proactively reaching
out to students during early periods of enrollment-when
students are most likely to withdraw and later default
Project Steps
• Establish an in-house campus wide default prevention
taskforce of FA staff and other campus offices
• Use available NSLDS data to identify 1st-time, freshman
DL borrowers.
• As previously noted - those most likely to withdraw and
later default - using identified parameters from the
following NSLDS Reports:
• School Portfolio Report (SCHPR1),
• Borrower Demographic Report (SCHBR1)
Project Steps (cont’d)…
NSLDS Reference Purposes:
• SUNY Default Prevention/Smart Track Student Engagement
Project campuses order early semester Fixed-width/Extract
Format Files from NSLDS and then upload them to System using
encryption/decryption software where data filtering is completed.
• Non-SUNY campuses could order the files directly from NSLDS
and upload data into in-house email platform.
Project Steps (cont’d)…
NSLDS Reference Purposes:
• NSLDS 1st time DL borrower data accuracy has ranged
from 78% to 92%.
• Notable reasons for missing/delayed data include:
• Late loan certifications,
• Late admits or
• General NSLDS reporting delays
Project Steps (cont’d.)
Develop student engagement email communications in
collaboration with other campus offices
• Consider short, text-like communications that reinforce
industry known retention and default risk factors
Project Steps (cont’d.)
Develop student engagement email communications in
collaboration with other campus offices
• Promote campus resource links that identify support and
continually reinforce the following:
• Academic assistance and advisement
• Personal and crisis counseling
• Career guidance and change of major counseling
• On-campus clubs and organizations
• Ongoing campus events
• Social media links
• Consequences for withdrawing and potential effect on
financial aid
• Financial Literary services and other financial management
resources
Why Promote Financial Literacy?
“Given the wide array of talent and
enthusiasm that exists on every university
campus, the creation of a successful financial
literacy program can be achieved by
harnessing and channeling those skills and
energy into a financial literacy program that
fits the institution and its students.
Collaboration was the key to our first-year
success.”
Irene Jasper
Duke University
Unified Front: A Campus-Wide Approach
Why we all need to be cogs in the machine
• President & Board
• Admissions Officers
• Enrollment Managers
• Bursar/Business Office
• Student Affairs Directors
• Faculty Members
• Alumni/Giving Office
Action Items: Advising
Training
Wiki
Cheat Sheet
• Conduct training on the interrelated nature of SAP,
financial aid, and enrollment.
• Create an internal financial aid Wiki that will serve as
reference when information is needed.
• Develop a one-page “cheat sheet” of how schedule
changes can effect a student’s financial aid status.
Action Items: Career Services
First Year
Students
First Year
Students
Workshops
• Ask first year students to research career trends and employment data
from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• If you are NOT interacting with first year students, make this a priority!
• Emphasize the importance of planning for the future so they can avoid
making costly financial mistakes while in school.
• Co-sponsor workshops with Financial Aid or a credit counseling
professional to discuss the link between employment and credit history.
• Create brochures to disseminate the information to all students.
Action Items: Alumni Office
Networking
Events
• Sponsor networking events with students and alumni to help foster a
focus on career participation and degree completion.
• Solicit alumni in the financial field to host workshops on a variety of
finance related topics for students:
Workshops
Graduation
Fair
Budgeting, saving, investing, FAFSA renewal, tax preparation, etc.
• Sponsor a graduation fair that allows students to complete
graduation requirements in one spot, including the opportunity to
complete exit counseling and have their repayment questions
answered.
Delivery of Student Retention/Default
Prevention Emails
• Generate
email communications according to predetermined delivery timelines that should correspond
with a school’s academic calendar. For example:
• To increase Social Adaption, send an early semester ‘Join a
Campus Club’ email
• To Prevent early withdrawal, send a ‘Don’t Drop Out’ email
during Thanksgiving break
• Send an ‘Academic Assistance is Available” email prior to
final exams week
Student Email Addresses
• Send outreach emails to known NSLDS email address
of record and IF KNOWN by campus, a 2nd personal
email address of record
• Note: Keep in mind that most students will likely stop
using a college provided email address upon separation
from campus
Smart Track Student Engagement Email Examples
Links to NCCC Pages as well as NCCC social media
Smart Track Student Engagement Email Examples
Good Campus Practices for Consideration
• Notify affected campus office PRIOR to sending student
engagement email so staff will be prepared for
(hopefully)increased foot traffic and/or student inquiries
• Attempt to track and resolve undeliverable emails –
discuss process for campus collaboration. If new
student contact information is identified - report updates
NSLDS. New demographic data will be reflected in
Subsequent NSLDS file uploads.
• Note: Using NSLDS populated email data, to date
SUNY has experienced very few undeliverable
emails.
Project Evaluation
Continue to communicate with your Default Prevention
Taskforce to evaluate the following:
• What email communications appeared to be the most
successful in regards to increases in foot traffic and/or
student inquiries?
• How many Student Financial Literacy accounts were
created after promoting available free services?
Project Evaluation (cont’d.)
Continue to communicate with your Default Prevention
Taskforce to evaluate the following:
• Consider an intake mechanism in all campus offices to
identify how/why the was directed to that office for
assistance, It could be a e-student intake form or as
simple as a paper record
• Review post-semester NSLDS data to determine if
students are still enrolled
Student Success and Default Prevention are
directly related to College Completion!
Questions?