Counseling session helps students learn difference between private/alternative student loans, federal loans
June 18, 2012
From the almost 2,000 comments the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has received from student loan borrowers, one of the more common take-away points is that borrowers are confused about the student loan marketplace, according to an article from Inside Higher Ed.
Schools can help their students learn the difference between private/alternative student loans and federal student loans by requiring student loan borrowers complete Mapping Your Future’s Private Loan counseling session prior to certifying the student’s private/alternative loans.
The Private Loan counseling session, located at mappingyourfuture.org/pl, presents information in six steps, guiding students toward responsible borrowing and successful repayment:
- Private loan basics
- Private versus federal loans
- Eligibility
- Choosing a lender and loan
- Repayment
- Delinquency and default
While the counseling is best suited for use as entrance counseling, borrowers also can complete a session to serve as an exit interview.
To experience Private Loan counseling from the student perspective, follow these steps:
- Go to the Mapping Your Future home page at MappingYourFuture.org
- Click the "complete Online Counseling" link on the left side of the page
- Select "Private Loan" (under "Other counseling")
- Choose Texas as your state
- Select MYF Demo School as your school
In addition to offering the interactive counseling session, Mapping Your Future has made the content available on the website as a printable guide so anyone can learn more about private student loans. The guide is online at mappingyourfuture.org/downloads/privateloanguide.pdf.
Mapping Your Future offers a variety of Online Student Loan Counseling sessions in addition to Private Loan counseling, bringing the total number of sessions to 22.
Entrance counseling:
- Direct Loan entrance
- Spanish Direct Loan entrance
- Perkins entrance
- Direct Loan and Perkins combined entrance
- Nursing entrance
- Health Professions entrance
- Direct PLUS entrance
- Direct Loan and Direct PLUS combined entrance
Exit counseling
- Direct Loan exit
- Spanish Direct Loan exit
- Perkins exit
- Direct Loan and Perkins combined exit
- Nursing exit
- Health Professions exit
- Direct PLUS exit
- Direct Loan and Direct PLUS combined exit
- TEACH Grant exit
Other counseling
- Financial Literacy
- Grace Period and Repayment
- Loan Management
- Non-Traditional Student
- Private Loan
Postsecondary schools that would like to add Private Loan counseling and/or other counseling sessions to their Online Counseling participation categories should contact the Mapping Your Future staff at feedback@mappingyourfuture.org.
Schools that don't have an Online Counseling account should complete the school submission form at mappingyourfuture.org/oslc/schoolsignup.cfm to request participation.
