Entrance Counseling and Exit Interviews

Federal regulations require all student borrowers to complete entrance and exit loan counseling.

The purposes of these interviews are to explain your rights and responsibilities of borrowing and to remind you of the importance of repaying the funds that have been borrowed.

Entrance counseling is required of all law students who borrow loan funds through the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program and the Federal Direct Graduate PLUS loan program.

Exit counseling is a requirement for everyone who has borrowed funds from a federal and/or private loan program who is either graduating from the law school or is otherwise "separated" from the law school due to withdrawal, academic disqualification, or an approved leave of absence. It is designed to prepare you for repaying your student loans and help you with personal financial management.

Throughout the counseling and interviews you will learn the rules that apply to your student loans, repayment options, debt management possibilities, and the consequences of defaulting on your loans and pertinent information on tracking both your federal and private loans. Graduating students will receive information on completing their exit interviews a month and a half prior to graduation.

Law students who are academically disqualified from the law school, or who withdraw from the law school, or are granted a leave of absence from the law school will be sent an exit interview packet within two months of their separation from the law school.

Law students granted a leave of absence may go into repayment with their loan vendors. Such law students should contact each loan vendor to request information on retaining their in-school payment deferment while on leave. Law students who are disqualified from law school or those who withdraw from the law school after the census date will enter loan repayment six to nine months after separation from the law school. Such law students should contact their loan vendors immediately after separation if they anticipate any financial hardship regarding loan repayment.