Whitepaper: High-Risk Borrowers

ECMC Innovation Lab Design Team: Mandy Rotella, Chris Kovel, and Theresa Winters // My role was as UX Researcher, UX Strategist, and beginning the visual design process of establishing the layout and cover for the paper (incomplete due to ECMC Innovation Lab closure).

Proprietary material of ECMC Group.  Used with permission.  No further use authorized.

Target Audience: Internal Stakeholders and Leadership // External Publication with Scholarly Journals

Executive Summary

Scope and Objectives:

In the Spring of 2018, ECMC Innovation Lab conducted a comprehensive scholarship review of the current state of student debt repayment in America. Over 70 sources were analyzed ranging from academic journals to newspaper editorials written by loan experts. There were two main objectives of this undertaking: first, to further define ECMC Innovation Lab's working model of a subset of borrowers referred to as "high-risk.” Secondly, to locate knowledge gaps and outstanding research questions that will guide future investigation, direct internal initiatives and strategy, and ultimately, help identify and achieve innovative solutions in this space.

The report seeks to demonstrate the Innovation Lab’s commitment to a strategic approach in understanding the different factors that create high-risk borrowers. Understanding these causes, we believe, is fundamental to the process of taking steps toward their eventual mitigation: specifically, targeting, understanding, and creating products and services that support the high-risk borrower. This is in accordance with ECMC’s mission of helping students succeed.