Exit Counseling
We have a terrible show rate of studnets when we try to conduct exit interviews at the school in a group setting. Do you have any ideas on how to drive more studnets to the group exit interview?
Rod,
This is a difficult area to overcome. When I was in the college we always gave our upcoming graduates a Pizza Party to celebrate their upcoming graduation and we combined this with a small and simply exit counseling process. You would not believe how many graduates came. We also include the Academic Dean, President, and Placement-everyone prepared a brief message on there areas. We increased our show rate to about 80% and all had an enjoyable time.
Chyrl
Rod, we haven't had much success in that area either. Two years ago we added a link on our web site from the Guarantor's web site, which has an electronic Exit Interview for students to complete. This has greatly increased the number of Exit Interviews in our FA files.
Joyce,
Once again I must apologize for my delayed responses to all of your postings. Many institutions are participating in online entrance and exit counseling websites. some institutions experience increased student participation and this will enable your students to have another avenue providing information on the loan requirements.
Sincerely,
Chyrl
Attendance at our Exit Interview is mandatory and well attended. Notification of the Exit Interview date is posted at the beginning of each term and the student receives three notices of the date, time & location well in advance to allow for individual scheduling needs.
Students are reminded from Orientation through individual interactions throughout their attendance of the importance of this process and the necessity for attandance. Student Council also assists in reminding individual classes of the importance of their attendance.
Early communication of date, time & location is essential as well as stressing the necessity, importance, and helpfulness of the exit enables 100% attendance.
Brenda,
It is important to communicate with students at various points in their enrollment the importances of follow through on counseling. Exit Counseling is extremely important since this will provide a great deal of information on the students' loans.
Thanks, Chyrl
We at one time were doing exit counseling in a group session. And like you, we had a terrible show rate. We set up with one of our guarantee agencies the ability to have student do their exit interview on-line. When the student does this, we have the ability to run a report as often as we like, that will show those student's that completed their exit interview. This is working out very well for us.
Rebecca,
It appears that your school has evaluated your students' needs and met these with a solution that works. When I was at the school level I struggled to get students to attend group and one-on-one sessions and it was very difficult. However, now there seems to be several different organziations that schools may work with to ensure that students have options related to Exit Counseling. The more options the great chance for success.
I appreciate your participations and willingness to share your ideas.
Sincerely, Chyrl
We are a very small school and have been doing financial aid for about a year now. We only have 1 course that is eligable for financial aid. Since I am new at doing this I wasn't aware of how important the exit counseling was. I just did the exit counseling for the first time this week. I talked to the instructor and before class started I gave each student their packet with all their paperwork and the exit counseling book and showed the exit counseling dvd. I was lucky only 1 student wasn't in class that night.
Linda,
Whenever you or your campus is new to the Financial Aid process it can definitely be a learning experience. The more practice you get the more comfort you will become with the process. If you are interested there is information on the Department of Education website on this topic and other functions of the financial aid and business office.
Thank you for your participation in our online Financial Aid courses.
Sincerely, Chyrl
We set up exit interviews with the instructors at the beginning of the quarter and send reminders to them and the grads throughout the quarter. We also serve pizza which really gets them there.
Joan,
A Pizza Party is a great idea. Most students will not miss a opportunity to socialize and eat. It is important to be inventive when dealing with the exit process and the counseling material geting to the student is critical. Involvement from the education level is another good way to keep the importance of the process in front of the students.
Sincerely, Chyrl
We have our financial aid administrators schedule a time to go to the classroom to go over the exit counseling paperwork. Any student not in attendance gets instruction from the instructor that they must see the financial aid office before the end of the program.
Not sure if this will help you but this helps us as most students are in attendance near the end of the program.
Alicia,
It sounds like you and your team have found a way to successfully reach the students who remain in school until near the end of the program. How do you handle your students who just stop attending? Do you have any special techniques that you could share that have been beneficial to your campus.
Best wishes in your continued education process in online financial aid.
Sincerely, Chyrl
If the student stops attending before we can do an exit interview, we mail the information with instructions for what they will need to complete and mail back to us. We also include a self addressed stamped envelope for them to send back to us. This does not always work but it does get some to send the information back.
Thanks,
We are a very small school, as well. I have learned to set up my first group exit counseling at least 3 weeks early. This will give me a chance to track down the students who didn't show up. I personally try to find them and to let them know how important this meeting is to them.
After I have contacted everybody then I schedule another meeting for that group of students. My problem is not students who are still in school, but those who have withdrawn. The students who withdraw before the midpoint of the semester or right after without notice are the ones that create the problems and lead to us having to mail the information out to them in hopes of getting it returned.
Lizzie,
Your approach is very good. Working to set up the sessions at the earliest point that makes sense and handling the students in several group settings. Also, the students that disappear are the most difficult ones to get to make contact with and schedule a meeting. The best approach is to have a solid documentated process to handle the counseling materials through electronic or standard mailing process.
Best wishes in your continued financial aid online educational process.
Sincerely, Chyrl
Actually, Exit Counseling is a requirement at our school. They do not meet their graduation requirements without it.
What I do is have each of them do it on line at NSLDS. They must bring me a copy of their "Congratulations" screen.
We hold a "Graduation Clearance" about 3 days before each graduation. We have a card that must be signed off on by Financial Aid, Library, Student Services, etc. etc. that all requirements have been met. If all signatures are not obtained, then they cannot graduate.
We take advantage of having the captive audience at Clearance Day to go over the highlights of Exit Counseling and to field any individual questions. I always have 100% participation.
Carmen,
Based on your response your campus has a solid method to insure that students complete the exit counseling process. How do you handle the students that do not graduate? The ones that are here today and gone tomorrow without any notification to the campus. It is important to have a plan for this type of student.
Good response on the handling of graduates.
Chyrl
We're a clock hour school with a very small student population. We hold group counseling 1 hour after their Final Exam. That way they are already at school. Also, we tell them they will receive tickets for graduation after Exit Counseling.
