Default Prevention Step 4: Make a Plan for Those at Risk

In Step 1, we talked about the importance of cross-institutional participation in understanding why default is an issue at your school.

In Step 2, we talked about building a default prevention team, which should include key players from both the financial aid office and from other areas of your institution.

In Step 3, we talked about collecting default data, which brings to light the characteristics of your current defaulted students.

To form an effective default management strategy, the next step is to develop a plan for students still in school who are at risk of defaulting. Once you’ve used data to identify those at-risk:

• Reach out to at-risk students immediately with targeted campaigns (see some successful targeted campaigns)
• Help students remain in school if at all possible
• If they’ve already left, help them return
• If they will not return, help them understand their repayment obligations

In addition, here are some things to keep in mind when developing this plan:

• Consider different approaches for those who are most at risk versus developing a one-size-fits-all program
• Consider special learning communities for at-risk students and/or developing an early warning system for those who are beginning to have attendance issues or who are showing other signs of disconnecting from school
• Consider supplementing entrance and exit interviews with group or in-person support
• Use what you learn from these processes to help other students stay in school

For more information about creating a plan for your school, visit our Default Prevention page.

Amy Moser, Southern Regional Director, Nelnet Partner Solutions