Located in Costa Mesa, Calif., Orange Coast College serves 28,000 students and offers more than 130 academic and career programs.

Programs
As part of its debt management initiative, the financial aid office of Orange Coast Community College uses components of USA Funds^® Life Skills^® to teach students about sound money management practices, offers financial aid orientations, and uses USA Funds Debt Manager^® to contact student loan borrowers.

The college financial aid office uses the USA Funds Life Skills module, “Get a Grip on Your Finances — Smart Spending for Students” in twice weekly student workshops. The workshop information also has been incorporated in academic counseling classes.

In addition, the financial aid office hosts frequent financial aid orientations throughout the year to provide students more in-depth information about financial aid.

Financial aid staff members also use USA Funds Debt Manager to send letters and e-mails to student loan borrowers entering their grace periods and those who have fallen behind in their loan payments.

Results
During the past five years, Orange Coast College has reduced its cohort default rate to 5.4 percent from 14.8 percent, while adopting a paperless loan process and focusing on student success and customer service.