The Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development promotes default prevention and debt management initiatives related to student loan borrowing and repayment. Objectives include increasing the awareness of financing options for postsecondary education, reducing debt among postsecondary students and parents, increasing enrollment retention, reducing loan defaults, and generally increasing students’ knowledge about their personal finances.

 

Implementing default prevention and student success programs on campus is:

 

  • Smart for schools! Successfully educating student loan borrowers can help reduce your institution's cohort default rate and prevent potential sanctions against your institution, such as losing federal program eligibility for student loans, Pell Grants, and other Title IV federal student aid programs.

  • Smart for borrowers! Default prevention activities also improve student loan borrowers' knowledge of their rights and responsibilities. Default prevention includes implementing financial literacy and debt management programs on your campus which contribute to the overall financial health of Missouri's students, parents, borrowers, and citizens.

 

Best Practices for Default Prevention

Utilize Missouri’s top ten best practices for default prevention to help you develop and/or improve your default prevention efforts at your institution.

 

Default Prevention Grant Program

Established in 2001, the Default Prevention Grant Program awarded grants to Missouri’s colleges and universities, assisting in the establishment and sustainability of debt management programs, financial literacy workshops, and default prevention activities. Nearly $10 million was awarded to more than 50 Missouri institutions. The grant program ended in June 2018.