Student Loan Counseling Challenges and Opportunities
PrintMethodology
The Federal Reserve Board collaborated with NASFAA to identify participants for a pair of focus groups conducted on July 11 and July 12, 2016, in conjunction with NASFAA's annual conference in Washington, D.C. NASFAA is a membership organization composed of nearly 20,000 student financial assistance professionals at approximately 3,000 colleges, universities, and career schools across the country. NASFAA member institutions serve 9 out of every 10 undergraduates in the United States. NASFAA has a primary focus on student aid legislation, regulatory analysis, and training for financial aid administrators in all sectors of post secondary education.
NASFAA recruited the study participants from the pool of financial aid administrators attending the conference with the goal of obtaining a focus group that represented a diverse set of institutions across several characteristics (table 1). Of the 12 participants recruited for each focus group, 10 attended the first and 7 attended the second. Participants were offered a nominal $10 incentive. Sessions lasted about 75 minutes.
| Characteristic | Focus group 1 (July 11) (n=10) | Focus group 2 (July 12) (n=7) | All participants combined (n=17) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Percent | Number | Percent | Number | Percent | |
| Type of institution | ||||||
| Two-year | 3 | 30% | 1 | 14% | 4 | 24% |
| Four-year | 7 | 70% | 6 | 86% | 13 | 76% |
| Public/private | ||||||
| Public | 6 | 60% | 3 | 43% | 9 | 53% |
| Private, nonprofit | 3 | 30% | 4 | 57% | 7 | 41% |
| For-profit | 1 | 10% | 0 | 0% | 1 | 6% |
| Size of institution | ||||||
| Large | 5 | 50% | 4 | 57% | 9 | 53% |
| Medium | 2 | 20% | 2 | 28% | 4 | 24% |
| Small/very small | 3 | 30% | 1 | 14% | 4 | 24% |
| Selectivity (% of applicants accepted) | ||||||
| 0-50% | 4 | 40% | 3 | 43% | 7 | 41% |
| 51-99% | 2 | 20% | 3 | 43% | 5 | 29% |
| Open admission | 3 | 30% | 1 | 14% | 4 | 24% |
| Not available | 1 | 10% | 0 | 0% | 1 | 6% |
| Participant experience | ||||||
| Average years of experience as financial counselor | 19 years | n/a | 20 years | n/a | 20 years | n/a |
Note: Institution size was defined according to the Carnegie Classification system. Note that the definition of "large institution" (based on size of student population) differs depending on whether the institution is a two-year or four-year degree granting institution.
n/a Not applicable.
The Board collaborated with NASFAA and Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation (TG) to develop the study's research questions. The Board engaged ICF International to develop the moderator's guide, facilitate the focus groups, and produce a summary of the findings. The moderator's guide is included as
appendix A. Appendix B provides additional data about focus group participants and their institutions.
Using focus groups for this study allowed exploration of observations, insights, and opinions from individuals with deep expertise in the field of financial aid counseling. While it is not possible to reach quantitative conclusions based on the conversations, there are meaningful insights that can be gained from the interactions among group members, the exchange of ideas and anecdotes, and confirmation of opinions. While much of the communication in a focus group is verbal, there are also nonverbal cues that signal participants' feelings and positions. The findings in the next section are drawn from observation of the two focus groups, as well as a review of the transcripts. These findings will help inform additional research based on a quantitative survey of NASFAA members to be published in 2017.
