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This page contains our Default Loan Prevention Plan. Below you will find a brief summary of our plan. View the full report on our Default Loan Prevention Plan (PDF). At the bottom of the page are monthly summaries of our progress.

Preface

East Georgia State College is committed to promoting student success by helping our students learn, graduate, obtain employment and demonstrate financial responsibility through the repayment of the funds they borrow to finance their education. This default plan is structured for student success and will be implemented as a campus-wide initiative.

EGSC is making significant efforts in the area of default prevention and debt management. The plan and its initiatives will be the key to the success of our default prevention and management goals

Overview

EGSC has determined that a campus-wide policy and effort is the underlying support for a successful default prevention program. Our institution focuses not just on those students who are enrolled during a specific term and year, but rather on all students – applicants and incoming freshmen, transfer students, alumni, and those students who withdraw without completing their transfer pathways.

Pre-Enrollment Efforts

Presentations at orientations revolve around the idea of responsible borrowing, and common repayment/default topics are included in both the presentations by the President’s Office (Welcome Addresses) and the presentations by the Financial Aid Office.

Those presentations given by the Financial Aid Office should include, at the very least, the following information regarding responsible borrowing and default prevention:

    1. Current overall loan debt in the United States
    2. Average loan debt among graduates
    3. Average borrowing rate among graduates
    4. How additional semesters (longer degree completion times) can affect overall loan debt
    5. Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) and its effects on student completion
    6. Basic information regarding common barriers to successful repayment

The inclusion of this information has the intent of giving students a moment to consider their overall financial plan while in college. At this time, there are is not a process set up for the measurement of this plan’s success, as very few resources go into the presentation of this information.

Enrollment Efforts

Our institution’s Default Prevention and Management Plan focuses on constant communication with our students while they are still enrolled. It is during this crucial time that student involvement should be encouraged. EGSC’s goal is to ensure that students are active in their communication with financial aid counselors and loan services, aware of their debt, and prepared to take on future financial responsibility.

Financial Aid Packaging Policy

EGSC annually evaluates its financial aid packaging policy, taking into account institutional needs as well as student needs. The focus is to encourage conservative borrowing by students and to promote scholarships and Federal Work Study in lieu of loans.

Entrance Counseling & Master Promissory Notes

Before a student can take out a Federal Direct Loan, he or she must complete Loan Entrance Counseling. The financial aid staff reinforces this by explaining Entrance Loan Counseling and the Master Promissory Note, providing a loan payment calculator, emphasizing the importance of repayment, and describing the consequences of default in office and on our website.

Academic Affairs and Early Intervention with At-Risk Students

EGSC evaluates students’ progress each semester. When mid-term grades are released, we can identify those students who are below the 2.0 mark. Students with W’s, F’s, and or D’s will be identified and contacted. The students will be the focus of additional support to motivate their success and progress.

Enrollment Reporting

EGSC recognizes that timely and accurate enrollment reporting to NSLDS is required by regulation and promotes school and student success. EGSC also believes that there is a correlation between late or inaccurate enrollment reporting and loan defaults. Accurate reporting activity ensures that borrowers receive their full grace period and further ensures that contacts from the loan servicer, such as correspondence and telephone calls, occur in the appropriate timing and sequence.

Exit Counseling

EGSC’s Default Prevention and Management Plan emphasizes exit counseling to students who are leaving their program of study. Exit counseling can be done in one of two ways at the time of application: in-person, with a financial aid administrator or with the submission of the online counseling confirmation page.

Post-Enrollment Efforts

At this time, our institution’s post enrollment efforts rely largely on our partnership with EdFinancial. However, EGSC consults with and utilizes the following, in compliance with federal regulations, in order to minimize defaults:

    1. On-Campus offices such as Admissions and Records
    2. College Recruiters

Conclusion

Default Management Plan Evaluation
On a yearly basis, EGSC’s Default Task Force will review the current Default Management Plan to determine what works well and what does not. EGSC will evaluate plans used by similar institutions to reevaluate the effectiveness of its own plan. The committee members will also contribute proposals for addendums during semester Default Task Force meetings. These proposals are to be voted upon by the officials in these meetings and employed or placed on record after review.
Default prevention and debt management is a college-wide initiative. Consequently, efforts are being administered not only from EGSC’s faculty and staff, but also from our partners at EdFinancial in order to provide our students with a comprehensive and effect default management program. This is part of our formula for student success, and we will continue to work diligently to assist our students in making sound investments in their education.

Monthly Status Reports