Default Plan
Default Prevention Goal
It is the goal of Merryfield to maintain a default rate under 10%. It is the practice of Merryfield Academy that all students conduct entrance counseling for first time borrowers before releasing the first disbursement of a Title IV loan to the borrower. Merryfield Academy partially relies on entrance counseling as a default prevention strategy.
The financial aid office at Merryfield Academy also ensures that all students are provided with a comprehensive information packet about the loan terms, conditions and their rights and responsibilities as a borrower. Prior to the borrower’s leaving school, the financial aid office conducts an exit counseling to inform the borrower(s) once again of some of the information provided during entrance counseling and to provide more specific information about loan repayment and debt-management strategies. The exit counseling are conducted on the web and if students have any questions are concerns, it will be addressed immediately. Additional exit counseling materials will be given to every student upon the completion of his or her exit counseling.
Current Default Rate
Because Merryfield schools is fairly new in administering Title IV Aid, our current default rate from the U.S. Department of Education is not yet been rated. Our current default rate is currently 0%.
Strategies to maintain a low Default Rate
Quarterly and just before graduation, we request that all students update their contact information with the school and also during the exit interview. Merryfield school pulls monthly NSLDS Delinquent reports of all past students and take the necessary action based on the delinquent report. Merryfield Academy’s default strategy is to send notification from the date the student dropped withdrew or graduated from the program. The notification sent, will remind the borrowers of their loan obligation(s), and re-iterate the information found in the exit counseling session such as, their loan(s) obligation, the amount owed, and the importance of repaying their loans and to whom they should contact if they should have any questions or concerns. Merryfield financial aid office will always be available to assist any future, present or past students regarding their loans, payment and or deferment/forbearance concerns.
Along with the notifications, a representative from the school will also maintain contact with the student(s) to see if they have any questions or concerns regarding their loan servicer, payment or payment schedule.
Because we are fairly new in administering Title IV aid, our staff have dedicated a couple hours per month to reach out to our past students regarding their upcoming payments.
Type of students targeted, to maintain our default rate.
We found success in managing default prevention by addressing student accounts and studying the consistency and payment history of past and present students. Once these students have been identified, we then devised a plan of action.
