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Exit counseling sessions are required for each borrower shortly before the borrower ceases at least half-time study at your institution or within 30 days after learning that the student has ceased enrollment or failed to attend an exit counseling session. Counseling may be conducted either in person (individually or in groups), by audio-visual presentation or by interactive means. Schools must also have an individual with expertise in the Title IV aid programs available after the counseling to answer the borrower’s questions regarding those programs. The school must maintain documentation of compliance with exit counseling requirements for each student borrower.
There is a prescribed list of items that must be covered in the exit counseling session. This checklist will help ensure that the requirements for exit loan counseling are being met. You should:
- review available repayment options and loan repayment obligations;
- provide information on anticipated monthly payment;
- review the terms and conditions of Federal Stafford Loans (subsidized and unsubsidized);
- explain the use of the MPN;
- review the Borrower’s Rights and Responsibilities statement;
- remind students of the obligation to repay the student loans, even if he/she does not complete school, cannot find a job, or is dissatisfied with the education received;
- review the consequences of delinquency and default;
- outline the situations in which a loan can have a full or partial cancellation;
- review deferment, forbearance, and cancellation options of repayment;
- provide lender's name and address;
- provide information on debt management strategies;
- emphasize the importance of personal financial planning;
- remind students to stay in contact with their FFELP lender/servicer or Federal Direct Loan servicer; and
- provide information on the availability of the U.S. Department of Education’s Student Loan Ombudsman office at 877/557-2575 or http://www.ombudsman.ed.gov/.
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