Transcript Presentation Title

Lowering Student DebtReversing the Upward
Trend
Presenter
Tim Bakula
Associate Director of Student Financial Aid,
University of Northern Iowa
University of Northern
Iowa
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Public, 4-year and above
Iowa’s number-one teacher education program
12,159 students
87% undergraduates
90% of students are from Iowa
2013-14 Costs
o In-state, Undergraduate Tuition: $7,685
o On-Campus Room and Board: $7,820
o Overall In-state COA: $18,880
• 13 staff, 1 graduate assistant, approximately 30
student employees
The Project on Student
Debt 2007
National Trends
National Trends
National Trends
UNI’s Average Debt Upon
Graduation
Student loan indebtedness
decreased by 7.6%
currently averaging 23,575
from 25,523
Contributing Factors
• Federal TEACH Grant Program
• Financial Literacy Initiatives
• Private Loan Counseling
Combined efforts of these programs
over the last 3 to 5 years resulted in
the reduction to student debt
Federal TEACH Grant
Program
Participated since
inception 5 years ago
• Provides $4,000 per
year for a total of
$16,000
• 640+ recipients per
year for $2.28M
• Nationally the #1
public university in
dollars & #2 in
number of students
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Federal TEACH Grant
Program
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First & Second Years
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FA point person established & University buy-in
Created posters
Marketed to students in appropriate majors
Students initiated the request to be awarded
• Third Year
o Packaged students that had the award in prior year
and still eligible
o Trained student workers to assist with counseling
• Fourth year and currently
o Batch packaging all students with eligible major
Financial Literacy
Initiatives
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History Through Fall 2010
o Financial Aid was the only department
working on financial literacy initiatives
o Presented to classes and residence halls by
request
o Registered with Cash Course in late 2007
o Provided in-office counseling by
appointment
• Determining how much aid to accept
• Private Loan counseling
• Budgeting basics
Financial Literacy
Initiatives
• Increased efforts three
years ago
• Live Like a Student courses
• Money management &
awareness outreach
• Marketing tools
• Participated in First Year
Experience (cornerstone
classes)
• More than 4,600 students
have participated in
initiatives
Infancy of “Live Like a
Student”
• Overwhelming amount of material
o Used NEFE High School Financial Planning
o http://hsfpp.nefe.org
• Wanted sessions to be in person
o Concept born from Speed Reading and
Effective Study Strategies classes
• Needed to be relevant to the needs of
college students
Marketing tools
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University Relations
o Created logo and materials
• New Freshmen Orientation
o Biggest advocates were parents
• Dept. of Residence, other Student Services
• Attended Dean’s and various other faculty
meetings
Live Like a StudentCourse Structure
• Relatively small, in person classes
were important
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Enrolled 15 students per session
Engagement and discussion have been
tremendous, especially from grads and nontraditional students
• Venue also played critical role
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Class is currently offered in a centralized
location on campus as well as a campus
computer lab when needed
• Timing
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Offered on same schedule as regular
courses
• Student led courses
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Utilized Graduate Assistants to lead the
classes
Allows for better connection, great
experience for student leading the class
• Incentives for attending
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$500 “Live Like a Student” scholarship was
drawn monthly
Live Like a StudentCourse Content
• Focused on basic principals of money
management
• 5 key competencies
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Goal Setting & Budgeting
Financial Aid (2 sessions)
Understanding Credit
Credit Cards
Identity Protection
• Relate these concepts to their lives as college
students
o Personalization is critical
Financial Literacy
Outreach
• Financial Literacy Month
o Interactive Scavenger
Hunt
o Campus Quiz Bowl
o Speakers Series
• Cornerstone Classes
• Workshops
Financial Literacy Future
• Four Year Financial Literacy Plan geared
at targeting students based on needs of
their grade classification
• Continue expansion into campus
community
o Additional peer mentoring experiences
o Peer Advisors in Residence (PAIR)
o First Year Experience Courses
• Enhancing online opportunities to explore
financial literacy topics
Private Education Loans
Private Education Loan
Counseling
• Most significant contributing factor
• Comprehensive, thorough, all-inclusive, one-onone
• Step by Step
o In 2007-2008 started one-on-one counseling with
students wanting to borrow $10,000+
o In 2008-2009 added all first-time borrowers and no
loan certified if remaining federal student loan
eligibility
o In 2009-2010 started counseling all students with every
private loan requested and each year thereafter
o No preferred lender list
Private Education Loan
Counseling Content
• Budget worksheet (completed with the
counselor)
• Loan repayment chart
• Projected income versus loan payments
• Types of payment plans
• Awareness
o How much borrowed to date & lender(s)
o Terms of the private loan (origination fees, interest
rate, variable interest rate, consolidation, separate
payments from direct loans)
o Federal loan servicer information
Results of Private Loan
Counseling
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First-time borrowers
o Many reduce the amount or decided not to borrow
• Second-time borrowers
o Come prepared and borrowing responsibly
• Today we see approximately 500 students per
year
• Today average private loan debt is $12,196,
was $17,892 in 2009-2010 (-$5,696 a 31.8%
decrease)
• 329 students graduated with private education
loan debt compared to 597 in 2009-2010 (44.9%
decrease)
In Summary
Combined efforts of these programs
over the last 3 to 5 years resulted in the
reduction to student debt
o Federal TEACH Grant Program
o Financial Literacy Initiatives
o Private Loan Counseling
Questions/Comments
[email protected]
391-273-2722