This service is free to students.

Exit counseling is required, by Federal law, for borrowers of Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans when they graduate, withdraw, or otherwise cease to attend school at least half time(even if you plan to transfer to another school). This quick and easy interactive counseling interview provides useful tips and tools to help you to understand your loan responsibilities.

Student loans, unlike grants and work-study, are borrowed money that must be repaid, with interest, just like car loans and home mortgages. You cannot have these loans canceled because you didn’t like the education you received, didn’t get a job in your field of study or because you’re having financial difficulty. Loans are legal obligations that you’ll have to repay.

Failing to complete your exit counseling interview could prevent you from graduating, receiving your diploma, obtaining your transcripts to attend another school, and receiving any student account refunds owed to you from your school.

Benefits of the exit counseling interview will provide you with:

• Information on how to manage your student loan repayment
• Your rights & responsibilities as a borrower in the federal student loan program
• Forbearance, deferment, hardship, disability, discharge and forgiveness information
• Other important loan servicing and default consequence information

This interview session covers the following William D. Ford Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program loan types:

• Direct Subsidized Loans
• Direct Unsubsidized Loans
• Direct PLUS Loans (for graduate/professional students)

Your school may instruct you to complete this online exit counseling or choose to provide exit counseling in person. Check with your school’s financial aid office to confirm that this online interview will satisfy your school’s exit counseling interview requirements before completing the session.

Please choose the counseling that is most appropriate for you.

What you need to know:

At the end of the exit counseling session, you will be asked for information that will be included as part of your loan records. This includes names, addresses and phone numbers for your next of kin, two references who live in the United States, and your future employer (if known). You will also need your driver’s license number if you have one. Having this information with you when you start will make your exit counseling session go more quickly and smoothly.

Take your time to carefully review the information in each section. There will be a series of short quizzes that you will be required to complete before continuing through the session. Please note that you must complete the entire session once you begin. If you exit the counseling before completing the session and return later, you will need to start over from the beginning. You must receive a confirmation page before the process is complete.

Each online exit interview session will take about 20-30 minutes to complete.