Student Loan Counseling Challenges and Opportunities
PrintAppendix A: Moderator's Guide
Introduction (5 minutes)
Welcome and thank you all very much for agreeing to participate in this focus group. I'll start out by introducing myself: my name is Michael Long and I work for a research company called ICF International. With me are Sharika Bhattacharya, also from ICF, and _________ from the Federal Reserve Board.
We are conducting this focus group for the Federal Reserve Board. One of the Federal Reserve Board's priorities is to find ways to help Americans make better and well-informed financial decisions. One of the topics they are particularly interested in learning more about are the decisions students make about financial aid. In this discussion we'd like to learn more about the strategies and tools you use when providing counseling to different types of students, and your perspectives about which approaches are most effective.
Before we get started, I will cover some logistics and guidelines.
- Everything you say here today is confidential, so please be honest and speak your mind. We will be writing a report on what you say today, but our report will not include any of your names.
- We are recording this session to ensure that we don't miss anything that you say. However, these recordings will be completely confidential, and will not be shared with anyone outside of ICF and a small group at the Federal Reserve Board.
- This discussion will end at 8:15 a.m. At times, I may ask that we switch to a different discussion topic to ensure that we are able to cover important points for discussion during the time we have.
To repeat, our purpose here is to learn more about the strategies and tools you use when providing counseling to different types of students, and your perspectives about which approaches are most effective. Does anyone have any questions about what we are going to talk about today?
Great. I'd like to start by going around the room and have everyone introduce themselves. Please state your first name, whether you work for a private or public institution, whether you would consider your institution to be large or small, and how long you have been a financial aid counselor.
Approaches to Counseling (35 minutes)
What tools or methods do you use to provide counseling to students? In particular, probe for tools other than the Department of Ed online counseling module.
- At what point in the student's experience do each of these interactions take place (e.g., before their freshman year begins? Just before graduation from college)?
- Do you use different approaches for different types of students? If so, how do you decide which tool/method to use with which students?
Which of these counseling methods do you think are most effective in terms of student impact?
- The Federal Reserve Board is particularly interested in students who may be "at risk" for negative financial consequences, such as low-income students or those who are the first in their families to attend college. Are there any methods that you think are most effective for these specific populations?
Are there any resource constraints that you face, in terms of budget, staff, or technology, that impact the way you provide counseling? If so, what are the constraints and how do they impact your work?
- What would you do differently if you did not face those constraints?
Are there any approaches that you have seen used at other institutions that you have considered implementing at your own institution, or would implement if you had no constraints? If so, what? Specifically probe approaches that (a) targeted specific types of students; (b) use multiple points of contact to get students' attention; or (c) use a peer-to-peer model.
- What challenges would you face in trying to implement these approaches at your institution?
- If they have been considered, why haven't they been implemented?
Counseling Outcomes (20 minutes)
Does your institution try to measure the efficacy of financial aid counseling in any way? If so, how?
- Does your institution try to measure students' satisfaction with financial aid counseling in any way? If so, how?
What are some of the challenges that prevent your interactions with students from being more effective?
- Are there any challenges that are particularly important for students that might be "at risk" for negative financial consequences, such as low-income students or those that are the first in their families to attend college?
- How can you tell whether your interactions with these students are less effective?
For the students whom you counsel, what information about their loans do they have the most difficulty understanding?
- What approaches do you use to try to communicate those concepts?
- Are there any approaches that you think are most effective for students who may be most "at risk" for negative financial consequences?
Has your institution made any changes recently to improve the effectiveness of counseling?
- If yes, what were those changes, why were they made, and how successful have they been?
Impact of Federal Policies (10 minutes)
What impact have federal requirements and policies had on the ways financial counseling is provided at your institution?
- Have those impacts been positive or negative? Why?
- Do federal requirements or policies in any way prevent you from doing anything that you think would make your counseling more effective? If so, how?
Conclusion (5 minutes)
- I wanted to make sure that the representative(s) from the Federal Reserve Board had an opportunity to ask any questions they had. Do you have any questions for the group?
- Does anyone have anything else they'd like to share with the Federal Reserve Board about their work with students, challenges they face, or approaches they have found to be effective?
Thank you again for your willingness to come here so early in the morning and share your input with us! If you think of anything else you would like to add later, or have further questions, you can reach us at [provide ICF contact info].
