UNMC leads the nation in four-year public institutions with the highest five-year repayment rates of student loans by Pell Grant recipients, according to a recent list compiled by the Chronicle of Higher Education.
The five-year repayment rate “measures the percentage of student-loan borrowers who have not defaulted and have repaid at least $1 of their original principal balance after five years in repayment,” the Chronicle said.
Students from UNMC’s four-year undergraduate programs are first in the country in this metric, among public-school Pell recipients, at 90.2 percent.
Pell Grants are administered by the U.S. Department of Education for students from low-income families with exceptional financial need – and median five-year student-loan repayment rates for Pell students were lower than non-Pell students, who ostensibly have greater financial resources.
Why are UNMC students among the nation’s most successful? A handful of factors include: A number of funding resources for Pell-eligible students, such as the University of Nebraska’s Collegebound NE program, which guarantees Nebraska-resident Pell recipients (who file on time) full tuition costs in grants and aid.
“A combination of a Pell Grant, grant funding from Collegebound NE and University Tuition Grants, the state’s Nebraska Opportunity Grant, the Buffett Foundation and the generosity of myriad donors who contribute to the University of Nebraska Foundation scholarship programs have allowed UNMC to fund nearly every Pell Grant recipient their full cost of tuition in grant aid,” said Judi Walker, director of financial aid. “Many have received significant funding for their high fee costs, also.”
Through these grants and scholarships, and restrictive annual loan limits, “most of our students leave with less than $25,000 of debt load,” Walker said.
These students also leave in high demand in a relatively well-paid health professionals job market. “They are gainfully employed and with lower debt,” Walker said. “Many leave UNMC with the goal of paying the debt off in five years.”
Many also are armed with a plan to do so thanks to UNMC’s financial aid office, which offers one-on-one student-loan counseling at any time during attendance. Additionally, graduating students are urged to take part in one-on-one exit counseling in order to understand the rights and responsibilities of student loan repayment.
“We Skype with students on all five UNMC campuses,” Walker said.
The No. 1 ranking shows Nebraska, and UNMC, are doing something right.
“It takes a real team effort to pull it all together,” Walker said. “In addition to the hard work of our graduates, we couldn’t do it without University of Nebraska Central Administration, the University of Nebraska Foundation, the State of Nebraska grant program and all of our financial aid staff.”