Table of Contents
- 1 What Is Student Loan Counseling? If you’ve applied for federal student loans, then you’ve probably at least heard people talking about student loan counseling, or gotten notifications from your student loan provider that you must complete it by a certain deadline. Student loan counseling is a presentation provided through the Department of Education’s website to prepare students for the commitment that they are about to undertake when they take out student loans. It informs students or parents about the types of student loans that exist, how interest rates work, and the borrower’s responsibility to repay the loan using a plan that works for them. Essentially, the goal of student loan counseling is to tell students who probably haven’t had a whole lot of experience taking on and repaying debt everything that they need to know about student loans and how to repay them. When Is Student Loan Counseling Required? Student loan counseling is required at two points in time during your college career: Before you receive your first student loan of a certain type. For undergraduates these student loan types are Direct Subsidized and Direct Unsubsidized Loans. Graduate or professional students need to go to student loan counseling when receiving their first Direct PLUS Loan. Whenever you have a student loan balance that exceeds zero and you are terminating your student loan repayment grace period. This means that you need to do student loan exit counseling if you are going to drop below half-time enrollment at your school, you are going to leave school altogether without completing your degree, or you are going to graduate. What Is the Point of Student Loan Counseling? Many students who are on a traditional path toward completing their education are at a young age and do not have much experience taking on debt, managing it, and repaying loans over time. The Department of Education requires student loan counseling in certain situations in order to make sure that people who take out student loans in order to pay for their education fully understand the responsibilities associated with taking on debt and the consequences of not paying student loans when they are due. Being fully informed about your student loans can also help you avoid student loan scams. Student Loan Entrance Counseling
- 2 Student Loan Exit Counseling