Outreach

“Engaging [borrowers] is not easy. You have to meet people where they are. That means you have to remove yourself from your comfort zone to meet them at an event or meet them virtually.”— Interviewee at Young Invincibles, an advocacy organization focused on expanding economic opportunity for young adults

When we asked interviewees how they successfully made contact with disengaged and vulnerable Americans, the following ideas came up consistently.

Use a Trusted Messenger.

Almost all interviewees stressed that effective outreach must come from a trusted source. Americans eligible for public benefits, like struggling student loan borrowers, are overwhelmed with bids for their attention, wary of scams, and sometimes distrustful of government. For this reason, our interviewees and many public benefits outreach teams focus, in part, on finding ways to ensure that their communications are seen as trustworthy and legitimate. For instance, an interviewee working at the Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger, a nonprofit focused on hunger prevention, said that the organization prioritized “building trusted partnerships with community-based organizations already working in the communities” when expanding to new areas. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also aware of the importance of trusted messengers, advised people who already had authority in communities, including faith-leaders, doctors, and business leaders, to spread vaccination information during the pandemic.¹

Reach People Where They Are.

Our interviewees overwhelmingly agreed that outreach must reach borrowers where they are, whether that is in physical locations like college campuses and food pantries or digital spaces like text messaging apps and social media. The specific location will depend on the target population. For instance, an interviewee from the National Council on Aging, a nonprofit committed to helping older Americans, had success placing key information on the placemats used in senior centers. Messaging will also depend on cultural trends. For example, a representative from the Student Loan Servicing Alliance, a student loan trade association, explained that phone calls have become a less effective outreach channel as spam calls have increased.

Data analysis can help organizations identify and reach their target audience. In their campaign to help low-income seniors in Colorado apply for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, Benefits Data Trust, a nonprofit dedicated to streamlining access to government services, analyzed state data to identify seniors who were using Medicaid, and therefore were likely eligible for SNAP but who were not enrolled in the program.² These data gave the organization the names and contact information of its target population.

Send Multiple Messages through Multiple Mediums.

Experts across different fields agreed that when it comes to outreach, multiple messages across multiple mediums is best. A professor in behavioral economics told us, “Reminders work. It is not enough to send them one text message or one email.” For instance, the California Department of Social Services and several California-based organizations ran an experiment to learn how to increase the number of eligible college students enrolling in SNAP (known in California as CalFresh). The groups found that sending an email and a postcard to college students was about 70 percent more effective in driving enrollment compared to just sending an email.³ Code for America, an organization that uses technological solutions to make government services more accessible to the public, including low-income and vulnerable populations, had similar findings. After reviewing outreach efforts to increase the number of families claiming the Child Tax Credit (CTC), it concluded that repeated messages continue to be effective in generating engagement.⁴

Evaluate Outreach Effectiveness.

Experts we interviewed stressed the importance of evaluation to learn what outreach methods work best. However, it can be tricky to evaluate results when a combination of outreach methods is used. Organizations should therefore develop strategies and tools for evaluation at the start of an outreach campaign. For instance, Code for America, in its work to improve uptake of the CTC, gave different outreach partners unique URLs, which allowed the organization to track how people learned about the CTC simplified filing website GetCTC.org.⁵ Organizations should conduct evaluation throughout an outreach campaign, rather than just at the end, so they can pivot to the most effective outreach channels. An expert from Unidos, a Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization, said the group conducted surveys throughout its own CTC outreach campaign to make sure its communication was reaching the targeted population.

While the Department of Education (ED) and servicers have adopted some of the best practices that our interviewees suggested, they should step up their evaluation of outreach strategies and increase messaging through these avenues, rather than relying on emails and phone calls.

Many of our interviewees suggested that Americans recognize outreach from government agencies as legitimate and attention-worthy. Code for America, after analyzing the impact of outreach for the expanded CTC, concluded that messages sent directly from benefit agencies usually generated more tax returns than messages from outside organizations.⁶ In fact, the group estimated that one well-targeted letter from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) can generate over 100,000 accepted tax returns.⁷ Yet student loan repayment outreach has not benefited from government branding, because each servicer has historically used its own branding, making it hard for borrowers to tell the difference between a legitimate servicer and a scam. As part of an ongoing modernization effort beginning in March 2024, servicers are co-branding with ED, which will help borrowers recognize these communications as legitimate.⁸

While ED and servicers are making progress in establishing themselves as trusted messengers, both could do a better job of engaging borrowers across multiple communication channels, rather than relying on phone calls and emails. Interviewees said ED should expand its outreach efforts so the information can reach borrowers through different channels.

Many interviewees said text messaging, in particular, yields promising engagement. For instance, the Code for America’s CTC outreach campaign found that texting is more effective than phone calls, in-app messages, Google ads, and news coverage.⁹ But despite its efficacy, several sources agreed that texting remains underused by ED and servicers because of operational challenges. Borrowers have to give consent to receive texts, as required by the 1991 Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). Texting may also be more time-intensive than email, since texts are usually sent in batches, while emails can be sent to millions simultaneously. Despite these challenges, ED and its servicers should make texting a key part of their communications strategy and seek to get borrowers’ consent to send texts, given the evidence of its effectiveness.

ED and servicers could also improve their evaluation of outreach methods. Drawing on their analytic capacities and data on borrowers, these entities should continuously evaluate each outreach method in order to learn which is most effective for different populations. Servicers could, for instance, identify borrowers who have stopped opening emails and be sure to always send them messages through other mediums as well.

ED also must evaluate the outreach outcomes of its contractors, ensuring that servicers are effectively informing and guiding borrowers throughout the repayment process. ED should continue to track default rates, income-driven repayment (IDR) enrollments, and the number of forgiveness applications received while monitoring servicer communications. If problems arise, ED should consider adjusting contract incentives, providing more communication guidance, or taking over some communications. Government watchdogs have similarly suggested that Federal Student Aid (FSA) increase servicer oversight or conduct direct outreach to improve communication. For example, the Government Accountability Office recently suggested that ED develop outreach protocols for borrowers eligible for a closed school discharge after learning that several servicers had issued only one unclear letter to students eligible for the discharge.¹⁰

While communication about student loans should first and foremost come from ED and its servicers, other government agencies are also trusted messengers that come into contact with student loan borrowers. People struggling with student loan repayment tend to struggle financially in general and often are eligible for public benefits, such as Medicaid, SNAP, or refundable tax credits. When struggling borrowers contact benefit agencies for assistance, these agencies should refer them to the right help. Staff at these agencies need not be experts on the intricacies of student loans, but they can pass along messages about the benefit of enrolling in an IDR plan (such as Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, Plan) or refer borrowers to their servicers.

An “all of government” approach must be reciprocal; student loan servicers should also refer struggling borrowers to other government assistance. For instance, an interviewee who previously worked for a loan servicer suggested that servicers should provide unemployed borrowers with information about unemployment insurance and American Job Centers. ED or servicers could also inform low-income borrowers about their likely eligibility for SNAP and other income-tested programs.

Even if cross-government coordination falls short of formally integrated referral processes, ED can negotiate joint outreach efforts for important student loan changes. Such cross-agency outreach has happened in the past. In its expanded CTC outreach campaign, for example, the White House worked to ensure agencies across the government had plans to promote it.¹¹ The Social Security Administration displayed information about the expanded CTC on its website and ran a digital ad campaign, while ED publicized the CTC in its back-to-school campaign. ED has also enlisted other federal agencies to help with student loan outreach. To ensure federal employees were aware of a temporary change to the eligibility criteria for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, ED created an outreach tool kit, including sample emails and social media posts, for federal agencies, and encouraged them to reach out to their staff and grantees.¹² ED should continue efforts like these, while working towards long-term partnerships to ensure struggling Americans are screened for student loan repayment troubles, regardless of the benefit agency they contact.

While government agencies are well positioned to conduct direct and targeted outreach to millions of people, vulnerable borrowers will still fall through the cracks. Some borrowers do not open their emails or pick up their phones because they confuse servicers, who can offer repayment relief, with private debt collectors who demand payments.¹³ And, while many respect the authority of government agencies, others view the government with “trauma and distrust,” and thus fail to respond to its messages, said an interviewee at MDC, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing social and economic equity in Southern states.

Local organizations may be able to reach some of the borrowers disconnected from official communication channels. Many nonprofit and faith-based organizations have already built trust and connections in communities. Unlike ED and its contractors, staff from these local organizations or groups are able to connect with people in person. Our interviewees suggested several creative ways to provide local outreach, including locations such as public transit stops, food pantries, libraries, and prisons. Once local organizations find struggling borrowers, they can refer them to their servicers.

ED has recently engaged local partners in student loan outreach. Last year, it launched the “SAVE on Student Debt” campaign, partnering with 100 national and grassroots organizations to reach borrowers and encourage them to take advantage of the new SAVE IDR plan repayment plan.¹⁴ Organizations that partnered with ED in this campaign said they sent out social media posts and hosted several in-person events, some of which received promising engagement. Building on this campaign, the White House launched the “SAVE Day of Action,” in which membership associations, unions, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies committed to amplifying the SAVE plan through events, emails and texts, and social media.¹⁵

ED’s focus on engaging community groups is a step in the right direction, but ED can do more to make these groups a permanent part of student loan outreach, beyond time-limited campaigns. ED could create long-term partners and greatly expand the reach of initiatives like the “SAVE on Student Debt” campaign by compensating community-based organizations for their outreach efforts. They should also host regular webinars offering technical assistance to local organizations, and provide unique URLs to each local partner, a practice that interviewees said allows partners to track their impact and feel more engaged.