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Lowering Student Debt-Reversing the Upward Trend Presenter Tim Bakula Associate Director of Student Financial Aid, University of Northern Iowa
Lowering Student Debt-Reversing the Upward
TrendPresenter
Tim BakulaAssociate Director of Student Financial Aid, University of
Northern Iowa
University of Northern Iowa
• 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: $7,685o On-Campus Room and Board: $7,820o 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
Federal TEACH Grant Program
• First & Second Yearso FA point person established & University buy-ino Created posterso Marketed to students in appropriate majorso Students initiated the request to be awarded
• Third Yearo Packaged students that had the award in prior year and
still eligibleo Trained student workers to assist with counseling
• Fourth year and currentlyo Batch packaging all students with eligible major
Financial Literacy Initiatives
• History Through Fall 2010o Financial Aid was the only department
working on financial literacy initiativeso Presented to classes and residence halls by
requesto Registered with Cash Course in late 2007o 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 materialoUsed NEFE High School Financial
Planningo http://hsfpp.nefe.org
• Wanted sessions to be in personoConcept born from Speed Reading and
Effective Study Strategies classes• Needed to be relevant to the needs
of college students
Marketing tools• University Relations
o Created logo and materials
• New Freshmen Orientationo Biggest advocates were parents
• Dept. of Residence, other Student Services• Attended Dean’s and various other faculty
meetings
Live Like a Student- Course Structure
• Relatively small, in person classes were importanto Enrolled 15 students per sessiono Engagement and discussion have been
tremendous, especially from grads and non-traditional students
• Venue also played critical roleo Class is currently offered in a centralized
location on campus as well as a campus computer lab when needed
• Timingo Offered on same schedule as regular courses
• Student led courseso Utilized Graduate Assistants to lead the classeso Allows for better connection, great experience
for student leading the class• Incentives for attending
o $500 “Live Like a Student” scholarship was drawn monthly
Live Like a Student- Course Content
• Focused on basic principals of money management
• 5 key competencieso Goal Setting & Budgetingo Financial Aid (2 sessions) o Understanding Credito Credit Cards o Identity Protection
• Relate these concepts to their lives as college studentso Personalization is critical
Financial Literacy Outreach
• Financial Literacy Montho Interactive
Scavenger HuntoCampus Quiz Bowlo 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 communityo Additional peer mentoring experienceso 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-on-
one• 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
• First-time borrowerso 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 SummaryCombined efforts of these programs over the last 3 to 5 years resulted in the reduction to student debt
o Federal TEACH Grant Programo Financial Literacy InitiativesoPrivate Loan Counseling
