Classification: Four-year private college or university;
Historically Black College or University.
Modules Used:
- Module 1: Get a Grip on Your Finances: Smart Spending for Students.
- Module 2: Seek out Financial Aid: Funding Resources and Financial
Obligations.
- Module 3: Work Hard but Smart: How to Be Successful in School and Graduate
on Time.
- Module 4: Take Control of Your Future: Finishing School and Repaying Your
Loans.
- Module 5: Now That You Are About to Graduate: Taking Control of Your Life.
How Used:
- Freshman seminar.
- Advising days.
- Career seminars.
Program Description: The director of financial aid at
Dillard University has succeeded in using USA Funds® Life
Skills® to shape a debt-management program. The program provides
three structured opportunities for students to learn more about strategies for
managing their academic and financial lives.
The first opportunity is through presentations to the Jubilee Scholars
(entering freshmen) conducted by the financial-aid office with assistance from
USA Funds representatives. Module 1: Get a Grip on Your Finances: Smart
Spending for Students is used during these sessions, which are part of the
freshman-orientation program. Having tried both large- and small-group sessions,
the director of financial aid finds that the small groups work much better.
The second opportunity is a series of seminars offered by various campus
units during academic-advising days. Classes are dismissed, and students are
required to attend at least three seminars at times they're not meeting with
their advisers. The financial-aid staff develops five seminars around the five
USA Funds Life Skills modules. They invite education lenders to assist in the
delivery of the seminars.
The third opportunity is in the career-services area, where the director uses
Module 1: Get a Grip on Your Finances: Smart Spending for Students and
Module 3: Work Hard but Smart: How to Be Successful in School and Graduate
on Time to complement various small-group seminars. These sessions are
advertised widely, and the response has been very positive.
Staffing Requirements: The director of financial aid is
responsible for orchestrating the delivery of Module 1 by USA Funds
representatives as part of the orientation classes. In addition, she oversees
the delivery of Modules 1-5 during the advising-days seminars conducted by
lenders. The director of career services delivers Modules 1 and 3 to students in
the small-group seminars.
Recommendations: The key to progress with debt management
and financial literacy is getting others involved. The financial-aid office was
instrumental in jumpstarting the efforts at Dillard, but the support of other
staff was critical to the success the campus has enjoyed thus far. The director
of financial aid recommends extending the invitations even further inside the
campus to get clubs and organizations involved in new initiatives. The director
of financial aid reports that Dillard's cohort-default rate currently is at 8
percent and has been dropping every year.
Campus Contact:
Cynthia Thornton, Director of Financial
Aid
Phone: (504) 816-4679
E-mail: cthornton@dillard.edu