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Dough: Reduce Overconsumption & Overborrowing

Dough: Reduce Overconsumption & Overborrowing

Program: Dow Distinguished Awards
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Spotlight on Student Debt

Designed for college students, Dough helps users understand the impact of educational loans and make better borrowing decisions. This free app is the first endto-end digital loan advisor, walking borrowers through the journey that begins the moment they start taking loans and continues all the way through choosing the right repayment plan. The app is expected to pilot at Wayne State University and launch at all of Michigan’s 93 colleges and universities in the future.

Through this project, a Dow Distinguished Award student team is researching the student debt problem. The team is building a solution co-designed by students to deepen their understanding of loans and the long-term impact of over-borrowing. Currently, Michigan’s student loan default rates are higher than the national average, and women, especially women of color, are disproportionately affected by student debt. The team designed Dough, an online application to help students fully understand the impact of their borrowing decisions, from long-term financial burden to credit challenges. Dough will be utilized by college financial aid offices to personalize and simplify student loan literacy. The team expects to pilot the new application at Wayne State University and hopes to launch it in all of Michigan’s 93 colleges and universities in the future.

  • Location: Michigan
  • Disciplines Represented: Business, Information, Education
  • Project Team: Hulyen Phan, Jaselle Valdez, Victor Poon, Lauren Elbaum, and Catalina Kaiyoorawongs (Team Lead)
  • Faculty Advisor: Jeff Sinclair, School of Business
  • Project Client/Sponsor: US DOE, Wayne State University, NASFAA