Freezing debt in its tracks
IU’s men’s and women’s basketball teams, which are coming off impressive weekend wins, may be the toast of Btown right now. But another team at IU Bloomington has been garnering major acclaim here and nationwide.
Since 2012, IU’s MoneySmarts team has been carrying the banner on campus for educating students in their money matters and helping them reduce their debt. And while no one would declare victory on overall student debt just yet, the MoneySmarts team can take considerable credit for helping dramatically reduce undergraduate student borrowing across the university. Over the past three years, the university has seen a remarkable 16 percent decrease in student loans — equaling nearly $83 million.
IU’s student debt letter details a student’s level of college-related borrowing and provides an estimated payout upon graduation.
Central to the MoneySmarts team’s playbook has been a student debt letter — which IU began sending to student borrowers in 2013 — that details a student’s level of college-related borrowing and provides an estimated payout upon graduation. This seemingly simple but highly effective tactic has been nothing but a slam dunk — so much so that starting July 1, 2015, all public universities in Indiana have been required to provide similar letters to their students under a new state law.
In May, Yahoo Finance called the student debt letter a “genius” idea for tackling the student debt crisis. That plaudit came just weeks after University Business magazine recognized the MoneySmarts initiative as a Model of Excellence, an honor reserved for just 1o other colleges and universities. More recently, USA Today featured the IU debt letter in a larger feature story on tips for how students can better handle borrowing, including several from IU Director of Financial Literacy Phil Schuman.
IU’s MoneySmarts team is hosting a WinterFest event for students seeking to “freeze debt in its tracks.”
Never a group to rest on its laurels, the MoneySmarts team, along with the Office of First Year Experience Programs, is hosting a WinterFest event from 6 to 8 p.m. tonight, Jan. 25, for students, student organizations and others on campus. Complete with free food, prizes and entertainment, the event in Alumni Hall at the Indiana Memorial Union promises to help students “freeze debt in its tracks” and give all of us who want to see our students graduate with as little debt as possible one more activity to cheer about.
For a student perspective on MoneySmarts, check out this Student Experience blog post, written by IU senior and MoneySmarts team member Dottie Vollmer.
Tags: Btown, debt letter, financial literacy, First Year Experiences, IU, IU Bloomington, MoneySmarts, Phil Schuman, student borrowing, student debt, WinterFest
