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The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are still playing out in society at large and on college campuses. Some impacts are immediately apparent; others take time to fully manifest themselves.

This research brief addresses four areas of concern — four challenges — that are faced by higher education institutions today and may have been aggravated by the events of the last several years. They range from costs, to enrollment, to the long-term viability of the institutions themselves, to how well financial aid departments are managing to address changing circumstances with constrained resources.

These challenges will not be news to higher education administrators. But a view of recent research and current statistics may help provide additional perspective on fashioning approaches for the future. In the area of financial aid administration, enrollment management and admissions, that future may very well include a reliance on third-party partnerships to effect better educational and financial outcomes for students.

All borrowers were brought current effective March 2020, resulting in all borrowers reentering repayment in October 2023.

This also makes it likely that a larger number of borrowers will become delinquent at the same time whether it’s because they can’t afford it, don’t know how to start repayment or don’t realize they have loans at all. Also, with the economic changes and using natural disaster trending data, there is typically a higher than normal delinquency rate following a disaster.

It’s vital for schools to prepare now for the influx of student repayment in order to curb default rates, improve student success and enhance the school’s reputation. This guide works through the importance of the CDR, how it is calculated, what happens if your CDR is too high for too long, the key impacts to repayment from the CARES Act, and actions you can take now to prepare.

In 2018, Inceptia published the results of our first round of a behavioral assessment to examine student financial behaviors at the outset of participation in college-sponsored financial education programming. Based on surveys conducted with over 60,000 students from across the country, this study highlighted the difference between self-perceived knowledge versus application, providing educators with insight to target interventions to foster behavior modification.

While the plan was always to conduct a follow-up study, the events of 2020 created unique circumstances that allowed us to view, on a mass scale, a snapshot of how a global pandemic factored into shifting financial behaviors amongst college students. Thus, this research brief serves two purposes: comparing year-over-year changes in a relatively stable economic climate, versus insights from within the unfolding COVID-19 upheaval.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of current and would-be college students fall through the cracks. For current students, the roadblocks they face as they attempt to remain enrolled continue to present themselves after the abundant freshman year support has fallen away. For incoming students, the final stretch in a college-bound marathon proves to be the most difficult part of the journey, with many failing to cross the finish line.

This brief reviews the current research and best practices to offer a better understanding of what causes these issues, how they contribute to student attrition, and how schools can take action to combat their negative effects to help students persist despite these hurdles.

The Millennials changed everything. Being the first group of “digital natives,” these students ushered in the era of online forms, email advising, and student portals. As with previous generations, they forced colleges and universities to adapt, but to a greater degree and with more sweeping change than their predecessors.

Now that Gen Z has taken over as the new “traditional” college student, institutions may see them as little more than “Millennials on steroids.” However, this view would do injustice to a generation that, while also adept users of technology, diverge from Millennials in a number of areas that present both opportunities and challenges to higher education professionals.

This research brief aims to help schools better understand the unique needs of Generation Z.

It may be an understatement to say today’s financial aid professionals are a little stressed. With staffing constraints and increased regulatory requirements, as well as serving students who expect modern, streamlined, user-friendly experiences, institutions are more challenged than ever to get everything done. It’s clear that schools need help. And outsourcing is a viable option. This brief looks at the pain points financial aid professionals are feeling today, according to the latest NASFAA data, and addresses how outsourcing can help schools provide more personalized service to students and their families while reducing the need for time-intensive technical support and regulatory compliance updates.

The brief specifically addresses the benefits of outsourcing verification and the impact of helping institutions refocus their resources. Data provided will assist those evaluating their verification strategy and provide guidance and support for schools considering a third-party servicer.

Although important to all, the execution of a financial education program is often relegated to the financial aid department. For an all hands on deck approach, such a massive and critical undertaking is daunting, but is simply system overload for one department to manage alone. Here are the reasons and data as to why financial education is everyone’s job, and how to gain buy-in for campus-wide collaborative efforts.

As students increasingly rely on student loans to finance part or all of their college education, the need for relevant, timely information to help make informed borrowing choices has become more critical than ever. Students themselves are indicating a need for such initiatives; 48% of surveyed borrowers reported either not knowing or incorrectly estimating the amount they have borrowed. The ramifications for borrower confusion can be significant. When students do not invest in or avail themselves of existing loan counseling resources, those students, as well as schools and society at large, suffer from the effects of over borrowing, lower degree attainment, increased attrition, and student loan default.

A number of schools and states, however, have used a simple yet innovative approach to help students actively manage loan debt as they progress toward degree completion. These institutions use loan summaries, sometimes called “debt letters,” to keep students apprised of their borrowing levels and allow them to make informed choices about future repayment scenarios. This brief explores the mounting research that has emerged to support the effectiveness of this strategy and examines institutional case studies that illustrate implementation techniques and the positive implications loan summaries have on not only borrowing behavior, but also academic outcomes.

Financial education programming, while gaining in popularity among colleges and universities, still faces an uphill battle in proving its value to decision-makers and educators. At a time when outcomes are king, the very nature of financial education dictates that its results are often not immediately seen. This can make it difficult to know which strategies are effective or will gain schools the greatest return on their efforts. This brief examines the effects of financial education on student satisfaction and financial stress levels, retention and cohort default rates and lifelong financial behaviors. A simplified review of the numbers will provide a basis for calculating the return on investment for financial education programs.