While lender lists remain legal, they seem to be taboo words lately. Yet this doesn’t mean they can’t be of tremendous value to students.
This second article, following up on “Why You Should Create a Lender RFI Now,” shows you what one school has done to put students first.
Perhaps you’ve already narrowed down a few lenders you’d like to include on your lender list. But how do you make it student-friendly? We spoke with Chad Nosbusch, Associate Director of Graduate Financial Aid Services at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., to see what his university’s done.
“We try to select lenders where the cost of the loan is minimal to the students,” says Nosbusch, “and we strive to make it an easy process.”
Look for lenders that offer zero fees, great customer service and issue resolution, and that fit your specific program needs (e.g., is one lender a better fit for a law student’s needs than another?). Electronic capabilities are also important, says Nosbusch. Choose lenders that have perfected features such as e-signatures and applying online.
A great approach in creating student-oriented lender lists is to go to your students. After all, they’re the ones who are going to be navigating it. St. Thomas surveyed its students to find out what they would want to see in a lender list.
The survey showed that St. Thomas students wanted to see how many borrowers qualified for each lender’s borrower benefit, so St. Thomas went back to lenders and requested these percentages. If a lender didn’t supply them with a figure, Nosbusch said they went with the industry average from Finaid.org.
“Our students were the ones who told us what they wanted [from a lender list],” he says, “you want to give good information but ultimately let the students decide.”
Maintaining a lender list
Keep in mind that a lender list is an ongoing project. According to Nosbusch, the St. Thomas lender list is updated several times a year. “I would put out a call to lender representatives two to three times a year so we can keep the information fresh,” he says.
Ideally, Nosbusch says, the process becomes a two-way street: lender representatives would contact St. Thomas to update the school on any new lender information. Despite the current air of suspicion, maintaining a close relationship between FAOs and lender representatives serves the best interest of the students.
Ultimately, a good lender list justifies itself. You need to be able to say, Nosbusch suggests, that if students were to compare lenders on their own, they’d be satisfied that the lenders on the list are indeed the best fit.