Reluctant reference-givers
Every now and then I meet with a student who is very reluctant to provide references. Privacy concerns are often the reason. Students do not want their friends/relatives to be contacted regarding their enrollments or whereabouts, and do not want to provide references beyond the 2 required for completing MPN. What would be your suggestion in such cases?
Anna,
I hope that other participants will share strategies that have worked for their schools.
For me personally, I lived alone from the time I first enrolled in college and my family was not involved in my finances. I shared the worries that your students have expressed- I did not want my references contacted in the event of a delinquency, and I wanted full control over who I talked to about my academic pursuits.
How could the FA office have better helped me? First, they would have used more inclusive language regarding references. Rather than focusing on family and presenting me with paperwork where “mother†and “father†were the top prompts, they could have asked me for coworkers, friends, or neighbors that I trusted and with whom I wanted to share my success.
As you stated, however, some students will not want to list anyone as a reference. This is why it is critical that we maintain positive, active relationships with students throughout enrollment. If we touch base with them personally each term/semester, and we help them understand all of their obligations and options, we might never need to contact their references. If, on the other hand, we speak to a student only during entrance interviews and lose track of them long before they drop out, we will have to pay for intensive skip tracing.
Students who do not have extended families to rely on need even more thorough loan counseling and reminders about their current balance and projected payments as each new disbursement occurs. For me, knowing that I needed to stay current on my bills in order to protect my privacy was a huge motivator.
Kellee Gunderson
In the past, to battle this situation, I have done two things.
One: I explain that these references are only used in the event that you do not pay on your loans and at that time, the loan servicer would only be reaching out to your references for updated contact information for you. They cannot and will not discuss anything personal with your references. I let them know that I was contacted as a reference from a student loan company before and it was in the form of a letter and was very brief.
Two: I have had very tough crowds who did not want to give out any information at all. I was instructed to tell them that if they did not complete reference sheet, they would not be meeting their graduation requirements by not completing all financial paperwork and thus could not graduate. This clause was clearly in their Enrollment Agreements.
Jason,
Thank you for providing the detail about your Enrollment Agreements- this might be an important point for many schools to consider and perhaps review the verbiage of their own documents. Having a non-negotiable institutional policy regarding information gathering certainly solves the problem that many schools seem to face.
I also very much like the suggestion that we clearly describe what our interaction with references will be – students may assume the worst (another participant expressed frustration that her students are very guarded about their academic and attendance records, and as a result they are very resistant to providing references), but a simple explanation can help alleviate these fears.
Kellee Gunderson
Explaining to the student that references are an important part of the financial aid process is key. Not only to complete the MPN but also just for emergency contacts or if the students has not made it to class for several days. Explaining to the student that the schools cares about the students attendance and wants the student to be successful and reach graduation. Most of time the - the references that student use are the support system and the people who are at graduation.
Henry,
The MPN simply does not give us enough information. Many forum posts have agreed that students move and change relationships and employers too frequently for one initial set of references to be sufficient. Gathering updated demographics throughout the student’s program is important.
As you suggest, our efforts will be more successful if the student understands why we need personal information and how it will be used. Students may have privacy concerns or may associate references with debt collectors; to combat this, we can explain how the information can support their success and promote their accomplishments at graduation.
Kellee Gunderson
Students need to be advised that the only way information is given out is if a FERPA is completed with the person's name and what information they are entitled to receive. If someone contact our campus and asks for a specific person and there is no FERPA on file we explain that we can not confirm or deny that the student is at our campus.
Helping students understand the laws that protect their personal data is important. When enrolling at a new school, students are given a lot of financial aid information and are asked many questions; this can be overwhelming or confusing. We can all aim to create a safe environment where students’ rights and responsibilities are clear to the students and to their families.
I was thinking of a meeting, partway through our program, that would encourage the student to contact someone in his/her life and let them know about the education that is being undertaken. The auspices could be to request support or invite someone to graduation. We could help them write a letter to Aunt/uncle or Grandmother/grandfather or an important family friend. Potentially it adds to or confirms the contact list, but it also affirms our relationship with the student and strengthens the individual's belief in what he/she is trying to accomplish.
