It wasn't that long ago that parents and teachers issued stern warnings to teenagers about the ill effects of video gaming, online browsing, programming, and countless hours spent online. A common fear was that technology made children more reclusive. However, if today's youth have shown anything, it's their ability to turn any medium into a social networking opportunity.
The most obvious example is the well-known site "MySpace" which continues to grow at unprecedented rates despite recent criticism surrounding its security. MySpace has grown from 2 million users to over 130 million (estimates) in just two years and receives more page hits than Google in an average day.
But, how can financial aid administrators utilize this information to better recruit, educate, and help their students?
Answer: make the financial aid process, including successful loan repayment, part of an "e-social" experience.
Today's Students Use Social Networks to Learn and Succeed
A recent Noel-Levitz sponsored research project Engaging the "Social Networking" Generation, found that 72 percent of high school juniors and seniors would like to engage with their admissions and financial aid counselors via instant messaging. More than half of all students surveyed would like the ability to chat online with their prospective school counselors.
"From blogs to MySpace pages to podcasts, today's college-bound students connect, communicate, and create collectively online," according to the report. The report found that eight out of 10 students would like to read a blog written by a faculty member and more than half would like to read blogs by current students or alumni. More than half also said they would download podcasts from their prospective institutions if the technology was more utilized by schools.
For colleges looking for ways to help their students feel "connected" to their campuses, creating an online social community has become increasingly important. For years schools have strived to create socially friendly campuses, but sometimes leave their online "campuses" behind. Studies have shown that students who feel more integrated at school are more likely to graduate and to repay their student loans.
Presumably schools that are able to extend a sense of collegiate community beyond their traditional boarders (i.e., keeping students engaged after graduation through online social networks) are more also more likely to have vibrant alumni associations.
In many ways, maintaining a high percentage of active alumni is the holy grail of collegiate goals. Besides becoming a walking mouthpiece, advertisement, and possible donor for the school, an active alumnus is usually reachable, making it easier for the financial aid office to send reminders about loan repayments, or surveys for financial aid research.
A financial aid office looking to increase its communication via technology based social networking may want to consider the following four suggestions:
Explore New Technologies
Blogging, RSS subscriptions, Instant Messaging (IM), and texting (text messaging) are all mediums that today's teens and college students feel comfortable using. Even some historically disadvantaged students do not seem to be far behind the technological curve when it comes to these forms of communication, according to a recent Noel-Levitz and National Research Center for College and University Admissions report.
Financial aid administrators should not shy from exploring these new technologies to increase access, educate students and families, and maintain relationships with students after they've left the campus.
The admissions and financial aid offices could provide content for an online forum so staff can blog on relevant financial aid topics and allow students to respond. Offices can also look into the possibility of producing a weekly podcast (basically a taped audio or video feed that students can then download to their MP3 player or IPod) to broadcast common Q&As and important financial and registration information. Depending on the type of student body, it may make sense to allow students to sign up for text messaging, i.e., short messages sent directly to a student's cell phone. Mass text messages can remind students to fill out the FAFSA or visit a school's Web site for more financial aid information.
Look To What's Already Being Done
It may be surprising to see how much some colleges are already doing. Recently The New York Times reported that more college presidents and leaders are introducing and maintaining blogs that allow students to converse with school leaders. For example, on Constitution and Citizenship Day (legislated by Congress in 2005), Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon blogged about the importance of maintaining diversity on campus, which many students found reassuring.
Many financial aid administrators may not know what these new technologies are, let alone how to implement them. A good way to find out about them and to integrate new financial aid administrators in the process is to get student workers or younger staff involved in these new initiatives. Student workers or newer financial aid administrators may already be using these technologies and may provide a unique perspective about their possible uses at an institution.
Go Where the Students Are
It is estimated that one in every six students took part in an online course this last year according to the Associated Press. Schools are investing heavily in their online learning courses and in many ways are creating "temporary" online communities. Schools can take several groups of students who are already interacting in an online environment and integrate them into a larger collegiate e-environment. This will likely make it easier for schools to create an online social network that involves and engages students after they've graduated.
Another - perhaps riskier - option is to use the Web to attract students. Certainly school banner ads on Web pages have been used since the beginning of the Internet, but schools could explore connecting to existing social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook. For example, a school or financial aid office could create a MySpace page that would profile the aid office. The financial aid office could post blogs or comments to that page and receive information and feedback from students. While the aid office - as the creator of the page - would have some control over what is posted by others, there would always be the risk that some users would post some unsavory statements on the page.
Schools should weigh whether it is appropriate for a financial aid office or school to have a presence on these sites to leverage existing online social networks and create their own networks.
Don't Abuse
Whichever technology a financial aid office decides to use, it shouldn't be abused. That means:
- Students should be able to opt-in voluntarily without being unknowingly signed up for a service.
- Students should be able to easily unsubscribe from any e-service.
- Financial aid offices and other offices that utilize any form of communication technology should not overuse, advertise, or abuse in any way the voluntary relationship that exists. If students sign up for a service where they expect to receive information from the aid office, they do not want to receive solicitations from lenders or other financial partners.
Because so many offices on a campus have an interest in communicating with students, financial aid offices are in a unique position to provide the catalyst to improve the way schools engage their students. Providing some sort of online social network feeds into a way-of-life that has become second nature to many students.
By Justin Draeger
NASFAA Assistant Director for Communications
Posted 12/05/06 to www.NASFAA.org. Redistribution to non-NASFAA institutions is prohibited. Please submit Web Site questions or comments to Web@NASFAA.org.
