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“These outreach pieces are only as good as the tool you’re sending somebody to or the call to action.”—Interviewee at Code for America, an organization focused on making government services more accessible

As several interviewees noted, there is a limit to the power of effective outreach and clear messaging. No matter how clear the call to action, fewer people will complete a confusing, onerous process than a simple, quick one. In our interviews, we heard many examples where the government increased enrollment in a program by simplifying program eligibility criteria, automatically enrolling eligible people using data matches, testing and redesigning the application experience, or providing one-on-one assistance filling out application forms. ED and services can use the following strategies to improve enrollment processes in the student loan system.

Simplify Program Design.

One of the most effective ways to streamline an application process is to make the underlying program rules less complex. For example, the White House worked to create a simplified tax filing process during the pandemic so that many more low-income families could claim the expanded CTC. The student loan system is far from simple, and several interviewees, including a legal aid professional and a person familiar with FSA operations, felt that the program’s complexity created many of the difficulties with communication and implementation. Congress and ED should work to simplify the loan system and ensure any new forgiveness options, repayment plans, or repayment exceptions are simple and can be automated.

Automate Enrollments Using Data Matching.

Even a complicated program can be streamlined with the help of automatic enrollment processes. For instance, many states automatically enroll Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients in Medicaid, a data match that significantly increases overall Medicaid enrollments.¹ Recently, both Congress and ED have made progress in automating aspects of student loan processing. Thanks to the 2019 passage of the Fostering Undergraduate Talent by Unlocking Resources for Education (FUTURE) Act, ED will be able to use IRS tax data to streamline IDR enrollment and recertification so that borrowers do not have to reapply each year to remain part of the program. ED will also be able to automatically enroll some delinquent borrowers in SAVE so they can make lower monthly payments.² In addition, ED is using data matches with colleges and the Social Security Administration to provide some automatic closed school and total and permanent disability discharges.³ There may be other opportunities to use data to simplify or automate forgiveness applications. For instance, two interviewees suggested that the PSLF program, which offers nonprofit and public sector employees loan forgiveness after 10 years, could be automated by matching with state unemployment insurance or IRS data on eligible employers.

Test the Application Experience with Users.

Just as government agencies should evaluate outreach strategies and message wording, they should observe how participants navigate different aspects of programs, from enrollment to benefits receipt, in a process called user testing. Agencies should then make design improvements based on the participant feedback they collected.⁴ Without learning about participants’ experience, agencies may fail to detect technical problems or cumbersome parts of the process that can prevent eligible people from accessing their benefits. For instance, during the Obama administration, many veterans were unable to receive health care assistance, because staff at the Department of Veteran Affairs did not realize that the health care application form did not load on most computers.⁵

FSA already conducts some user testing, such as observing borrowers as they interact with pages on the studentaid.gov website to learn if the site is easy to navigate.⁶ Despite the ongoing efforts of the small user design team, interviewees who work with borrowers—including people affiliated with servicers, legal aid, and nonprofits in the SAVE coalition—expressed concern over the design of many FSA products, such as student loan entrance and exit counseling, loan-related application forms, and ED’s student loan website and loan screening tools.

FSA’s user design team should apply user testing to understand borrowers’ experiences, from receiving loan entrance counseling to applying for and receiving forgiveness. For example, observing college students navigating loan entrance and exit counseling may help FSA redesign the counseling, if it finds that modules are too easy to click through without helping students retain information or that the modules are delivered when students are too busy. FSA should also observe borrowers as they navigate the entire application process for IDR or forgiveness programs, including those who rely on their phones to fill out forms, since several of our interviewees stressed the importance of designing forms for mobile use.

Provide Application Assistance.

When enrollment processes are complex and not automatic, our interviewees and our research suggest that one-on-one assistance helps. For example, federal funding for health insurance navigators, who provide individualized application assistance to the Affordable Care Act marketplaces and Medicaid, has increased health insurance coverage among low-income Americans.⁷ When tax preparers helped potential college students fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid Application (FAFSA) form, the number of applicants filing the FAFSA form increased by 40 percent.⁸ Student loan servicers should offer borrowers the same kind of intensive help. ED should require call center staff to help borrowers fill out application forms, thoroughly explain options for repayment plans, and screen borrowers for loan forgiveness eligibility.

Borrowers also need access to other assistance options in case they encounter intractable issues with their servicers. Congress should increase resources for FSA’s Ombudsman’s Office, which provides informal dispute resolution to solve borrowers’ issues with federal student aid, so its staff can help more borrowers who are charged payments incorrectly or rejected erroneously for loan forgiveness.⁹ Legal aid offices also help borrowers with these types of problems, and with additional federal funding, they could extend their support to more borrowers.