Federal Loans: Entrance Counseling for Direct Loans

The University strives to provide entrance counseling in person prior to the first enrollment, as part of the University’s registration process. In the case of online students, the entrance counseling at www.StudentLoans.gov is used as an alternative while providing the student with availability of personal contact with the financial aid office for questions or concerns about borrowing Federal Direct Student Loans – Subsidized, Unsubsidized, and Graduate PLUS.

These points are reviewed at the Entrance Interview:

1. Entertain questions about the Master Promissory Note (MPN) which the student already completed OnLine at www.StudentLoans.gov.
2. These are loans which require repayment or arrangement for repayment under one of the existing borrower based repayment plans, such as “Pay As You Earn.”
3. Neglecting to arrange for repayment under one of the repayment plans causes default, adverse credit, delinquent debt collection costs and litigation.
4. Loan repayment is obligated even if the student does not graduate, or stops attending, or is dissatisfied with the education provided. Lack of employment requires action on the part of the borrower to implement one of the deferments or borrower based repayment plans.
5. Refer to repayment information on total debt and sample repayment amounts. Refer to www.StudentLoans.gov for the gateway to the list of federal loans for each student and the repayment plan options.
6. Remind the borrower how the award letter describes the relationship of the loans to any potential refunds, and of the process to receive refunds
7. Explain that interest is paid by the federal government on Subsidized loans for a maximum of 150% of the time it takes to graduate for undergraduates (maximum 6 years interest subsidy).
8. Interest on Unsubsidized and PLUS loans accrues and is capitalized at repayment (after the six month grace period which starts when the borrower stops being enrolled for at least 6 credits -half time- each semester) . Borrowers have the option to pay interest based on the quarterly statement provided by the servicer of the loan to the student at the most recent address available.
9. Subsidized and Unsubsidized loans start repayment after the six month grace period but Graduate PLUS loans start repayment after a 45 day grace period.
10. Reminder to complete exit counseling prior to leaving the University for any length of time other than normal summer and winter breaks.