Graduation coming up? Make sure you know what you owe! Don't be surprised when lenders start asking you for money, and be prepared to know about your options by completing Exit Counseling before leaving school.
Look over this exit counseling presentation to learn more. There are three types of student loans: federal, university/perkins and private loans.
Federal Loans
Your Federal loans offered by the government may be called Stafford (subsidized or unsubsidized), PLUS, or Direct. Federal Loan servicers can be found in the National Student Loan Database System at nslds.ed.gov. Look at the NSLDS overview for steps on navigating NSLDS.
Parent Plus borrowers should log in using their Parent FSA ID; student borrowers of federal loans should log in with their Student FSA ID. Information on who a borrower’s servicer is and the amount borrowed will be in the database. Here's a great tip sheet to help keep track of who you owe Before You Go… You Should Know.
- All students are required to complete exit counseling when they graduate, transfer, or drop below half time enrollment. This is a learning module with quizzes to help students understand interest, repayment, and repayment plan options. While exit counseling itself does not trigger repayment, it is necessary to be completed every time a student graduates, transfers, changes degree program (for example: undergraduate to graduate), or drops below ½ time. Make sure you complete this at studentloans.gov! To prepare, review our exit counseling tip sheet.
- You have a 6 month grace period after graduating (or dropping below half-time enrollment), and then your loan servicer will ask for payments.
- Don't ignore your servicer! Student loan default has serious repercussions, such as negative credit rating, tax refund loss, more debt, and even legal action. Talk with your servicer about options that may be available to you. Information on federal loan repayment plans, consolidation, and deferment can be found at studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans.
University and Perkins loans
University loans are loans offered through the university and are called various names such as Ellis, Crum, Doyle, Silver, Gold, Stubbins, Schrenk, Armstrong, Alumni, Prange, Harmon and Townsend. Perkins is a federally funded loan, but it is offered through the university and repayment will be similar to other university loans.
Most university loans, like federal, have a six month grace period but can be paid back before graduation as well. If it is during the current academic year, the borrower can reduce the amount of the current year's university loan by emailing sfa@mst.edu and stating how much they would like the loan reduced to. If the loan has already disbursed and resulted in payment to the student account, the borrower will be required to pay back S&T’s Cashiers Office at the next billing cycle.
If it is past the academic year the loan was borrowed, a student has already graduated or left the university, or if a borrower would rather pay off the lender directly, the borrower should go to www.ecsi.net. More information on university loans and ECSI can be found through Student Loan Collections.
Private loans
Private loans are loans provided through an outside affiliate such as a bank or online lender. While S&T cannot recommend one private lender over another, a historical lender list can be found at FAST Choice. These loans must be paid separately from federal and university loans, as they are through whatever outside agency the student chose to lend from. Borrowers should contact their lender directly for information on repayment as all lenders have separate requirements.
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