We are now having the one on one-parent/student-exit. If I know the student is a dependent and they drop, I request the parent to be at the exit. Independent- can bring them if they like. I find that haveing a parent there makes them ask more questions.
Paula,
I like the idea of having the parent involved if possible. It not only would help the student feel more at ease and able to ask questions but the parent then had the ability to ask questions as well. This is also another example of building relationships and the parent can turn out o be a valuable resource if later on you are having trouble getting in touch with the student.
Cheryl Kesson
Hi I believe we can improve our exit counseling process by meeting with the students consistently 3 months from graduation and until they graduate. We could hold a monthly exit seminar and invite them monthly to participate. We can also do a fun activity to get the students to participate, something jeopardy style.
Kimberly,
Games and activities are a great way to encourage students to join. It's often hard to hold someones attention when discussing financial literacy topics. I applaud your efforts to make it fun and interesting for your students.
Cheryl Kesson
I do exits with every single student
Exit Counseling for students that drop from the programs they are enrolled tends to be a bit tricky where I work. Right now most of the students that drop do so without any warning and regardless of efforts to reach them they will not respond.
For these students the only thing we can do is send out drop notifications and mail out exit interview packets. Sometimes this gets a response but most of the time it does not.
Does anyone have any suggestions on a better way to handle students that drop out with no warning?
Barbie,
It is fantastic that you are able to meet with all students! Whenever feasible for an institution, we definitely recommend in-person counseling over impersonal, online presentations.
Kellee Gunderson
Kristofer,
Drops are definitely a problem for all of us. One strategy is to connect with students early and often, so that by the time they drop and disappear they already have most of the information they need. We have to ensure that new students and first-time borrowers know that loans do not simply go away if they do not complete an education; bad credit, collection calls and garnishment sting worst if you don’t even have a degree to show for it.
Also, we can work with faculty and admissions to understand which students are most at risk for leaving prematurely (based on high school grades, placement test scores, current academic performance, attendance, family situation, etc.) and reach out to them with loan repayment information but also time management and study tips, tutoring, or whatever resources they are in most need of.
Kellee Gunderson
Every student has a one-on-one Entrance Interview and is provided a print out of their anticipated loan debt, however it is a concern that too much information at one time may be overwhelming. During their program we meet with students for FAFSA renewal and packaging and for other changes that affect their loans which we use to remind students of their responsibilities. We see some students for Exit Interviews, but other have the information mailed which presents the biggest problem to stress the importance of loan repayment. We are working on a more aggressive process for follow up calling and emailing students who we have not met with after leaving school.
We do entrance counseling prior to first day of class start so that student has information regarding their overall responsibility of the loan and also counsel student when they are less than 2 months for graduation. if a student drops we have found email notification most effective as phone calls dont always get returned.
Lorena Villarreal
There are some wonderful ideas on this forum...
I like the idea of doing both one on one and group exit counseling.
I wonder what the best strategy for students who drop? Also some students don't seem to realize that if they go less than half time or "take a break" that their loans go into the grace period.
Gina,
Drop students are much more at risk for defaulting on their student loans which makes it even more important to have financial literacy as party of the early and continuing enrollment process. Continued counseling and support may even help to prevent drops.
You make a good point about educating students that drop to less than half time or take a leave from school about exactly how this affects the repayment period on their loans.
Cheryl Kesson
Perhaps the question is not how to handle students that have dropped out, but the more important question might be how to prevent those students from dropping out?
Dropping out limits the success of all these students. Schools need to be sufficient in resources that could prevent dropouts. While there are many factors why a student drops out, the relationship that an advisor can create will help identify a potential reason and direct the student to some help before the drop out.
In addition, I question if the dropout rate of a school has any indications on how the enrollment procedures are handled?
Are schools perhaps being too easy on certain requirements?
Is quantity more important than the quality of a student?
While, we all want to give the marginalized students a chance, it can eventually hurt the reputation of the school if some requirements/qualiications are not established.
But in conclusion, everyone encounters issues that might derail us from goals, so that support a relationship can provide is crucial within the school system.
We have been improving our procedures by implementing entrance and exit counseling interviews. This will help students to understand what their responsibilities are at all times.
We have implemented several reports to ensure we reach 100% of our students. We hold group sessions, if they do not attend we pull them from class to provide the exit. If they drop before we can reach them we attempt to schedule a meeting and if all else fail we mail the information to them.
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
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.
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
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!
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.
