Thanks to Jeff Hopkins, SLA's Research Director, for his recent work on implementing the SLA Student Satisfaction survey at schools from coast to coast. Thanks to the financial aid administrators for your support at ensuring the success of this program on your campus. I believe that you found this feedback useful also. Please contact Jeff at jhopkins@studentlendinganalytics.com if you are interested in learning more about this program, which requires remarkably little time on your part and is provided on a complimentary basis to the financial aid community.
Here are some of the preliminary results from over 1,300 students surveyed to date:
- Borrowers rely most heavily on the lender's website for information followed by phone calls to 800 customer service and email
- 60% of borrowers interacted with the lender via the lender’s
website
- 39% contacted the lender via phone
- 9% contacted the lender via email
- In terms of criteria, borrowers were most concerned about the cost
- 70% of borrowers stated low cost of the loan as being the
most important criteria in selecting a lender.
- Borrowers listed the relative importance of criteria in this order:
1.
Low cost of loan
2.
Borrower benefits
3.
Financial strength of the lender
4.
Lender reputation
5.
Application process
6.
Customer service
7. Website user-friendliness
- Borrowers do utilize lender lists in making their selection as the data below indicates:
- 66% of borrowers used the school’s preferred lender list
- 12% stated they did not use the list
- 22% were unsure
- In terms of the recommending their lender, most seemed to have a positive experience:
- 69% of borrowers would recommend their lender to another borrower
- 5% stated they would not recommend their lender
- 26% were lukewarm and said they might recommend their lender
Comments