Financial Recovery Pathways Guide
August 25, 2025
Manage Borrowing Guide
August 25, 2025Financial Recovery Pathways Guide
August 25, 2025Manage Borrowing Guide
August 25, 2025Summary
Online financial literacy tools and workshops are widely adopted but often go underutilized. Students learn concepts but rarely apply them to FAFSA deadlines, refund checks, or budgeting for living expenses. Peer mentors and counseling staff provide valuable support but struggle to engage enough students or measure outcomes at scale.
Arbol bridges the gap by converting education into action. Students receive contextual guidance based on their actual financial profile, quick assessments route more students into counseling, and peer mentors gain collaborative tools to guide larger caseloads. The result is higher engagement, more effective mentoring, and stronger persistence.
The Student Challenge
- Online literacy modules feel abstract and disconnected from immediate needs.
- Budgeting tools exist but are rarely used consistently.
- Students without family financial support often see balances as impossible to resolve.
- Many never take up mentoring or counseling support, even when available.
The Institutional Challenge
- Peer mentoring and wellness staff are capable but underutilized.
- Current tools don’t help staff scale their reach across more students.
- Financial wellness programming lacks measurable links to persistence and retention.
- Institutions invest in education platforms but see limited return on engagement.
Solution with Arbol
- Contextual Guidance: Prompts tied to real aid, balances, and costs that drive engagement.
- Early Detection: Risks are flagged before balances escalate into holds.
- Scalable Caseloads: Quick assessments help staff and peer mentors grow their caseloads.
- Convert, Don’t Overload: More students take up services, adding capacity without straining staff.
- Action Over Theory: Literacy concepts become concrete next steps for students.
How It Works
- Quick Assessment – Students complete a simple check-in that surfaces needs and risks.
- Personalized Pathway – Arbol generates a financial plan tied to each student’s profile.
- In-Context Nudges – Students receive reminders to complete tasks like FAFSA or refund budgeting.
- Staff Triage – Simple cases are resolved quickly, while complex cases are escalated for personalized support.
- Scaling Impact – Counseling and mentoring programs expand reach and utilization.
Impact You Can Expect
- More students engaging with financial counseling and mentoring services.
- Greater utilization of existing wellness programs.
- Peer mentors able to grow their caseloads without sacrificing quality.
- Improved financial behaviors that reduce attrition risks.
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Case Study: East Carolina University – Financial Wellness
At ECU, online financial literacy resources and workshops were available, but few students engaged with them. Budgeting tools went unused, and many students who could benefit most never connected with peer mentors or counseling.
By embedding Arbol:
- Quick assessments converted more students into counseling and peer mentoring.
- Contextual nudges tied directly to student needs increased engagement.
- Peer mentors used collaborative budgeting tools, enabling them to grow caseloads.
- Financial literacy shifted from passive education to measurable student action.
Result: ECU scaled engagement with its Financial Wellness office, improved utilization of peer mentoring, and helped more students persist without adding headcount.
Kevin Sutton, Director of Financial Wellness: "Arbol has allowed us to scale what used to only happen in one-on-one counseling into a campuswide system of support. Students get clear, step-by-step guidance, and our mentors can grow their caseloads without sacrificing quality. It has fundamentally changed how we deliver financial wellness at ECU."