EXIT
For Direct Loan Borrowers
COUNSELING
GUIDE
EXIT COUNSELING GUIDE
For Direct Loan Borrowers
CONTENTS
Contacts for your Direct Loans
1
Money management
2
Repaying your loan
4
Payment of interest & capitalization
6
Avoiding delinquency & default
7
Deferment & forbearance (postponing payments)
7
Conditions for cancelling all or part of your loan
9
Loan consolidation
10
Notepad
11
Loan repayment by plan and amount
12
Student contact information
Tear out/17
Rights and responsibilities summary checklist
Tear out/19
This guide provides a general overview of information that you will need to successfully repay the Direct Subsidized, Direct
Unsubsidized, and Direct PLUS Loans that you’ve received to help pay for your college costs. For more detailed information
about any of the topics covered in this guide, see your Master Promissory Note or your copy of the Borrower’s Rights and
Responsibilities Statement. Much of the information in this booklet is a part of exit counseling, which you must
complete when you leave school. You may also take exit counseling on the Web— but check with your school to see
if it requires its students to attend exit counseling sessions in person.
Throughout this guide, the words “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to the U.S. Department of Education.
COVER PHOTO: ©Jupiter Images Corporation, 2008.
November 2008
Direct Loans on the Web: www.dl.ed.gov | 1
1-800.848.0979
contacts for your direct loans
Direct Loan Servicing Center:
1-800-848-0979 or
(TTD)1-800-848-0983
U.S. Department of Education
Direct Loan Servicing Center
P.O. Box 5609
Greenville, TX 75403-5609
Call the Servicing Center for all of your
Direct Loan needs—especially if you’re
having trouble repaying your loan or if
you need to report a change of address
or name change.
Direct Loans on the Web:
www.dl.ed.gov
You can use this Web site to look up your
account information, request a deferment,
make online payments, set up automatic
payments, change your billing options,
etc. You will need to use you