Indiana University mailed students their running debt total, and borrowing fell 11%

Vox's Libby Nelson reported that Indiana University found a simple way to cut student borrowing: telling students how much they had already borrowed when they took out loans for the next year. The average senior with loans at IU graduated with nearly $29,000 of debt in 2012. The university began sending an annual letter listing what each student owed so far, the types of loans, their interest rates and what the monthly payment would be after graduation.

The problem it targeted is that student debt does not accumulate all at once but in installments, often at different rates, so there is no equivalent of a mortgage statement. Aid packages can mix federal and private loans, making it hard to tell the total.

In aggregate, IU students took 11 percent less in federal loans during the 2013-14 school year. IU's James Kennedy told a congressional committee that students afterwards asked for more help managing debt.

Debt piles up in yearly pieces with different rates, so students rarely see the total.

A letter at the moment of the next loan puts the number in front of them when it matters.

The letter converts the total into a monthly payment, which is more tangible than a lump sum.

It needs no new loan limits or rules, only data the university already holds.

Often the cheapest intervention on a decision is to put the missing number in front of the person right when they decide.

Average debt for IU graduating seniors with loans dropped from $28,769 to $27,619 between 2012 and 2013 while it rose nationally. The article cautions that it was too early to tell how individual borrowers changed behaviour, and that some experts argue students sometimes borrow too little.