Annual Student Loan Acknowledgment
The Annual Student Loan Acknowledgment is an online session intended to better assist borrowers in understanding their financial responsibility for funding their education. It will allow students and parents to see how much they have borrowed, preview what their monthly payments might be, and explain concepts such as capitalization and the difference between federal and private loans.
What will you gain from the Annual Student Loan Acknowledgment?
- Making informed choices by showing students and their parents how much they owe in federal student debt before agreeing to borrow more money to pay for their higher education.
- Knowing the borrower's obligation by calculating the monthly payments and the median salary that students can expect to receive after graduating from a specific college.
- Understanding the balance for repayment by breaking down basic loan concepts such as interest accrual and capitalization and the difference between private and federal student loans.
How do I complete this?
In late April, log into your Student Aid account using your FSA ID and password to complete your Annual Student Loan Acknowledgment requirement.
How long does it take?
The Annual Student Loan Acknowledgment should take less than 10 minutes to complete.
What can I expect?
The experience will be personalized based on the borrower's attributes, but generally, First-time borrowers (those who have no current loan balance) will:
- Answer a few questions about their state, school, expected degree and field of study.
- View summary information from the College Scorecard about total estimated school costs, graduation rate, total estimated student loan debt and estimated monthly payments. Please Note: College Scorecard data is unavailable for borrowers attending foreign schools. Borrowers attending foreign schools will be able to proceed without viewing College Scorecard data.
- View general financial literacy information about borrowing student loans.
- Check a box acknowledging they read and understood the information. Returning aid recipients (borrowers with current outstanding loan balances) will:
- View summary information about their loans and grants from the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS®) as of the day they complete the acknowledgment. Information includes outstanding balance, estimated 10-year standard monthly payment based on the borrower's current balance, servicer information, loan limit information, grant summary and grant limit information.
- Check a box acknowledging they read and understood the information.
The Annual Student Loan Acknowledgments are not school-specific. If a borrower completes the process for a loan associated with a particular award year at one school, the borrower will not complete the process for another loan associated with that same award year again, even if he or she receives the other loan at a different school. For a Direct PLUS Loan made to a parent borrower, only the parent completes the Annual Student Loan Acknowledgment.