Borrowers must complete entrance counseling in order to be eligible to receive student loan. Successful completion of entrance loan counseling allows your loan to credit to your student billing. The counseling may be completed online, or there are group counseling sessions scheduled that you may attend.
UNK may need to reduce or cancel your loan if you receive additional financial aid after the initial credit of this loan. This will ultimately reduce your loan debt. Federal law prohibits situations that would cause an "over-award" of federal financial aid.
Federal law also requires that a student maintain a half-time course load in order to receive federal loan and to keep loan in deferment. The UNK half time minimum enrollment for undergraduate students is six hours, and for graduate students is four hours. This is an important consideration if you ever withdraw from classes or take time off from school. Doing so may trigger the grace and/or repayment periods on loans you have borrowed.
You can complete the online entrance loan counseling session on the Department of Education's StudentAid.gov website. One to two days after completion, review the MyBLUE ‘To Do’ list to check if your loan counseling has been received in our office. Once this requirement is complete, it is removed from your checklist.
As you begin borrowing, educate yourself about proper debt management, and borrow only what you need for your education. Undergraduates over the last several years borrowed on average $21,500 over the course of their education. Their loan repayment was approximately $247.42 per month for ten years at a 6.8% interest rate. Graduates over the last several years borrowed on average $32,500 over the course of their education. Their loan repayment was approximately $374.01 per month for ten years at a 6.8% interest rate. We want you to be assured of your ability to repay your loan when you complete school. This is accomplished by careful debt management and budgeting. Proper budgeting takes into account all the resources you have now, and just as important, your projected salary after you graduate. A good rule of thumb is to borrow total loan such that the projected loan payment does not exceed 8% of your projected future monthly salary.
