In a world where lives revolve around cell phones and the Internet, face-to-face human interaction has, in a sense, become as pass? as a rotary telephone.

But at the $912 million Eli Lilly Federal Credit Union in Indianapolis, face time with members is very much a part of the present and is the force driving the credit union's student loan program.

Tricia Poplicean, student lending adviser at Eli Lilly, is one of two staff members who head up the credit union's student lending center. Poplicean and her supervisor hold one-on-one consultation sessions with members to provide financial education and advice on how to cover the cost of college.

On average, Poplicean conducts two to three consultation sessions a day that last up to an hour. In April and May, the credit union ran a campaign promoting the sessions and Poplicean set aside 10 days just for consultations.

“It's about building relationships and trust. We want people to see it as a value-added service that we have a great student lending center.”

Eli Lilly starts building a relationship with members that have children in junior high school. The credit union has a senior high school tuition assistance loan for members who send their children to private schools.

Parents and students can come in together for the loan consultation session, and Poplicean said she has many students who come in on their own.

“That's what makes this job most interesting. Everyone needs a different option. I've seen students that come in that are completely on their own, and I have seen students that come in after two years that are now responsible for paying for their education or have just finished their undergraduate degree and are responsible for paying for graduate school.”

In addition to the consultations, Eli Lilly conducts Webinars on student lending topics once a quarter, and Poplicean conducts podcasts on the financial aid process. The credit union is also testing out providing student lending information on Facebook.

While the credit union is embracing new technology to reach members, Poplicean said that she will always see a value in the one-on-one sessions.

“People still call up and want personalized service. There are a lot of pieces to the student lending puzzle, and it helps to talk to a person one on one.”

One good thing about student lending that helps Poplicean and her supervisor budget their time is that there is a peak season and a down season. Poplicean said that she is very good with time management but having the down season helps.

Sherry Nelson, educational lending coordinator at UW Credit Union in Madison, Wis., said that her credit union has always offered face-to-face counseling sessions as part of its student loan program.

The credit union has a financial specialist at each branch who can sit with members and answer questions about student loans and finances.

“I wouldn't say it's the majority, but we do get calls from members that would rather come in and talk with us. There's definitely a demand for it,” Nelson said.

UW doesn't offer online counseling services, Nelson said, because of the credit union's close relationship with schools that already require a form of online counseling.

“For our members it would be repetitive, and you can't replace conversations. When we meet with members, they come in with a set of questions and having a conversation with them allows the questions to lead to other topics.”

Pentagon Federal Credit Union in Alexandria, Va., has been offering its members an online-based counseling service from Collegiate Funding Solutions for the past year.

The online program works as a virtual counseling session that compiles data based on the member's financial situation and potential choice of college. The program creates a report for the member that makes suggestions and provides tips on how to prepare for the cost of college and how to reduce the out-of-pocket cost of college.

“It's like a Turbo Tax for families about college,” explained Roger Lorelle, president of Collegiate Funding Solutions.

Currently, Pentagon does not have a student lending program in place, but Vice President of Marketing Shashi Vohra said that the credit union is planning to launch one in January.

“We believe in adding value and education to our members all the time, and we saw this as a benefit.

The program provides a very complete report and is a real value,” Vohra said.

So far, Vohra said, more than 100 members have used the service. Members download their report for free by using a promotion code from the credit union. Nonmembers can purchase the report for a fee. The program is embedded and linked through the credit union's Web site so members can access it by going to the credit union's home page. Once the credit union launches its student loan product,
Vohra said, the program will be a win-win.

In response to credit unions that offer one-on-one counseling, Vohra said that he sees the program as comprehensive in itself and a better service product for Pentagon FCU.

“We've branded ourselves as an online institution for members, and our goal is to have 80% of our business conducted online.”

Because the program gives a complete overview of a member's financial situation, Vohra said, the program allows the credit union to cross sell products, such as home equity lines of credit. The program can also suggest services the credit union offers and provide hot links to the credit union's Web site (www.penfed.org).

“This fits better than just providing counseling on student loans because it gives the whole overview, and we can link to other services we offer,” Vohra said.

Lorelle of Collegiate Funding Solutions said that most of his credit union clients use the program because they don't have the internal expertise to provide personalized counseling or the ability to train staff, but are still looking for a way to stand out.

One credit union client used the program to get into a local school and develop a relationship with parents within the school system. The credit union approached the school and asked if it could offer the free program to parents of children in the school system. Once the school administrators gave the go ahead, the credit union sent flyers out to parents that directed them to the credit union's Web site and provided a special promotion code for them to get their free reports.

“This was an inexpensive way for the credit union to reach its target audience,” Lorelle said.

–lsiegriest@cutimes.com

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