Debt-Management Tip: A Different Kind of Financial-Aid-Awareness Event
Southeastern Bible College spreads the word about financial aid and debt management during a special week each February — and the message goes to standing-room-only crowds who’ve shown they’re taking the information to heart.
Students and faculty at the Birmingham, Ala., school eagerly look forward to the special week each year. About 90 percent of the school’s 240 undergraduates use some sort of financial aid, and they know they can gain valuable information about the application process, new procedures or offerings for the year, important deadlines, and how to manage debt.
But they also have come to know the week as one full of fun and entertainment.
Since 1993 Joanne Belin, financial-aid director, has taken an upbeat — and offbeat — approach to presenting financial-aid information to the student body. The first year she “hosted” a game show based on Wheel of Fortune. The next year that show was a videotaped takeoff of the “The Andy Griffith Show.” Another year it was a live theater production of “The Wizard of Aid,” based on “The Wizard of Oz.” Also among previous highlights is “The Grant Pell Show,” a variety show of student acts hosted by a professor playing “Grant Pell,” and “A Financial Aid Carol” based on the tale of Scrooge. Last year “Napoleon Dynamite” made an appearance.
“The whole point is financial-aid awareness,” Belin says. “Students look forward to the fact they are entertained, and they learn information too.”
Each production includes time at the end for questions and answers, and students have the opportunity to pick up forms and visit booths to learn about financial-aid options available to them.
“It’s just been a phenomenal thing,” Belin says, noting that financial-aid administrators from other colleges attend the productions, as do high-school counselors.
Event grew from mandatory session
Belin says that initially she scheduled the productions during mandatory chapel time on a Friday morning in February. As the events grew more elaborate — with festive costumes, props and scenery, special music and student and faculty participation — she added an evening performance as well. Outside support helps defray costs.
This year’s evening event, on Feb. 2, featured a coffeehouse theme with student acts competing for prizes. The show played to a standing-room-only crowd in the school’s cafeteria. Students wrote their own scripts and songs about selected financial-aid topics, such as how to file a Free Application for Federal Student Aid, the difference between subsidized Federal Stafford loans and unsubsidized Federal Stafford loans, and student-loan responsibilities following graduation.
“Students were showcased in the production. It was great to see the participation — and they learned,” Belin says. Lisa Stephens, USA Funds® Services account executive, was among the judges for the event.
For the 2007 show, students signed up in November and chose from topics offered by the financial-aid office. The show included 10 student acts and one faculty-and-student act. Judges considered content as well as creativity in evaluating the acts. This process of preparing proved less labor-intensive than that of previous years — when staff wrote scripts and music, and casting, costuming and rehearsals was time-consuming.
“We don’t have a drama program, and this gives students a chance to showcase their talent,” Belin says. “Plus, students are so close to one another that they all come out to support one another.”
Financial-aid staff sees results
If the students’ track record with submitting financial-aid paperwork is any indication of the success of the program, then the event is serving its purpose. Belin says she’s had very little problem with students’ getting financial-aid paperwork filed on time since she began the programs.
Southeastern Bible College maintains a cohort-default rate of less than 10 percent.
The school also has implemented the USA Funds Stafford Loan GuideSM online entrance-counseling product and the USA Funds Debt Manager® online communication tool to effectively share messages about obtaining and repaying education loans.
“We’re giving out all of this wonderful information, and we’re getting the applications in,” she says, “and we’re doing it in such a fun way.”