Financial Aid Services

A financial aid representative disseminate materials regarding the different types of student loan repayment plans, Managing Your Credit booklet, Managing Your Credit booklet, etc. Transfer students receive a personalized letter stating how much they have borrowed since the beginning of their educational career.

The current process for meeting the federal entrance counseling requirement is achieved by referring students to studentaid.gov where the student checks off that they have read and understand repayment obligations. We believe that students do not sufficiently comprehend their repayment obligations from simply going online and checking a box agreeing to repay the loan. And the cohort default rate increase over the last three years proves this.

Valencia College Financial Learning Ambassadors Peer Program promote financial literacy and responsible money management amongst their student peers by conducting skill shops, presenting in New Student Experience (NSE) (first year experience classes), collaborating with Wellness Ambassadors and other faculty members and Student Life offices at campus events. Many of the Ambassadors' presentations are with students enrolled in Valencia's Student Success courses. These are classes teaching strategies for success in life and college and providing the appropriate platform for introducing the topic of financial responsibility. In addition, Ambassadors' are partnering with faculty members who teach developmental math courses to promote financial literacy. Ambassadors also ensure they reach students outside of the Student Success courses by hosting information booths and distributing financial literacy material during campus events. Through these Ambassadors, students are empowered to make educated fiscal choices and take action to improve current and future financial security.

On October 2, 2014, we implemented our Default Management Committee to get the commitment from key individuals’ college wide to acknowledge and support default management and prevention. Since then, the name of the committee was changed to Default Prevention Advisory Committee. The reason for the name change, was to “prevent” the student from going into debt, not “manage” their debt. The Financial Aid Services Office along with the Financial Learning Ambassadors reached out to faculty and was able to get them to add USA Funds Life Skills workshops to NSE classes. We were also able to target graduating students and provide them with information and resources to help them regarding their student loans, and target at risk cohorts and provide face to face counseling and in classroom orientations.

Graduation: Valencia College Graduation Office sends a report to the Financial Aid Services Office of students who have applied for graduation. The Financial Aid Services Office contacts these students to notify them of the exit counseling requirement. These students have the option to complete exit counseling online as well as in-person at Grad Finale.

Withdrawal: Many borrowers who default on their loans are borrowers who withdrew from the college prior to completing their academic programs. Early identification and timely intervention improves student retention and reduces the number of defaulted loans. In addition to fulfilling the regulatory requirement to provide exit counseling to students, Valencia College is implementing the review of students who show up on the Return to Title IV (R2T4) reports who have student loans. These students will be contacted via phone to inform them of the effects of withdrawing and be provided with information regarding repayment options.
When contacting withdrawing students the following information will be provided,

• An estimate of required monthly payments on the borrower's loan balance,
• Loan servicer contact information,
• Contact information for delinquency and default prevention assistance on campus,
• Introduction to NSLDS for Students,
• Repaying Your Student Loans publication.

Valencia College is currently contracted with Attigo by Ascendium to communicate with borrowers as they enter and make their way through repayment. Outreach is done monthly via email, and outbound calls. 

Throughout repayment, Valencia College has contracted with Attigo by Ascendium to send delinquency, deferment, grace, default and forbearance letters and emails to borrowers. This service  generates email, phone, and web chat conversation with the borrowers. Borrower detail reports are monitored which includes the overall loan status summary of the institution.  

In Spring 2016, the Financial Aid Services Office  began collaborating with the Nursing Department to present to the incoming Traditional, Advanced and Evening track nursing students. The presentation outlined the different types of scholarships and financial aid available. Nursing students also receive a personalized letter stating how much they have borrowed since the beginning of their educational career.