Financial Aid: Entrance Counseling
Completing Entrance Counseling for Undergraduate Students – What You Need:
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- Time: Allocate around 30 minutes to complete the counseling in one sitting.
- FSA ID: If you’re creating or retrieving your FSA ID, visit fsaid.ed.gov. It’s crucial to use your personal FSA ID for the process. Using someone else’s FSA ID is fraudulent.
- School Notification: Have the names of the schools you want to notify about your counseling completion.
Useful Information to Gather:
- Details about your income, financial aid, and living expenses. You might find this information in:
- Your student account details.
- Your financial aid award letter, if available.
- School tuition, fees, and other costs at CollegeNavigator.gov.
Steps to Complete the Counseling:
- Visit studentloans.gov and log in with your FSA ID.
- Click on the “Complete Counseling” option on the left.
- Find “Entrance Counseling (required)” and click “Start”.
- To notify your schools:
- Select your state from the dropdown list on the left.
- Type your school’s name in the search bar.
- Click “Notify this school”.
- Under “Select student type” on the right, choose “I am completing entrance counseling to receive Direct Loans as an undergraduate student.”
- Click “Continue” and follow the prompts to complete and submit your entrance counseling.
Note: Parents applying for a Direct PLUS Loan for their child’s education do not need to complete entrance counseling.
