Financial Awareness Counseling Tool

1
Financial Awareness Counseling Tool

• Julie Aloisio
• U.S. Department of Education

2
Agenda

• Financial Awareness Counseling Objective
• Financial Awareness Counseling Tool Overview
• School Functionality
• Walkthrough

3
Financial Awareness Counseling Tool (FACT)

• A centralized, online source of financial
  literacy information for students
• Tools to inform postsecondary funding decisions
• School financial literacy resource
• Support efforts to improve financial capability

4
FACT Functionality Overview

• Available on StudentLoans.gov
• View NSLDS student loan information when signed
  in
• Disbursement of funds cannot depend on FACT
  session completion
• Cannot substitute for Entrance Counseling

5
FACT Overview

• The 5 Financial Awareness Counseling topics are

6
School Functionality

• FACT information on COD Web
• Financial Awareness Counseling Responses
• Counseling Search
• Counseling Report
• Batch Search

7
Responses

• Receive
• Yes or No
• On-Demand or Daily
• Default
• Yes and On-Demand

8
Counseling Search

• Date range
• Remains one week
• Defaults
• Type
• All Counseling
• Award Year
• Most recent

9
Counseling Report

• Existing DL Entrance Counseling Report renamed
  Counseling Report
• Each row represents one completed counseling
  session
• Possible multiple Entrance or Financial Awareness
  Counseling records per student

10
Counseling Report

• Includes
• New Counseling Type Indicator value
• Sorted
• Ascending by SSN
• Descending by
• Completion Date and Completion Time
• CSV with headers

11
Walkthrough Introduction
12
Topic 1 - Understand Your Loans

• Customized breakdown of loans and an overview of
• Common loan terms and concepts
• Suggestions to maximize financial aid and
  minimize loans
• Student loan types

13
Walkthrough Step 1
14
Topic 2 - Manage Your Spending

• Budget Basics
• In-school expenses and funding
• Planning for and controlling expenses
• Benefits of paying interest while in school to
  reduce interest costs

15
Walkthrough Step 2
16
Topic 3 - Plan to Repay

• Post school budgeting
• Living expenses vs. estimated income
• Project loan balance
• Compare basic repayment plans
• When to contact the loan servicer

17
Walkthrough Step 3
18
Topic 4 - Avoid Default

• Provides an overview of
• Options available to avoid default
• Deferment and forbearance options
• Loan cancellation and forgiveness terms
• Consequences of delinquency and default

19
Walkthrough Step 4
20
Topic 5 - Make Finances a Priority

• Key personal finance topics
• Financial planning, saving, and spending
• Taxes, deductions and their impact on take-home
  pay
• Educational tax benefits
• Credit scores and credit basics
• Protect credit and identity

21
Walkthrough Step 5
22
Walkthrough Notify Schools Submit
23
Walkthrough Counseling Summary
24
Contact Information

• Julie Aloisio
• Phone [phone]
• Email julie.aloisio_at_ed.gov