The Department of Education redesigned the Federal Student Aid website into a more user friendly tool. Here are some valuable links for Public Service graduates:
If you have a moment please browse this new tool and complete a Survey and provide Feedback about your experience.
The processing of federal student loans is contracted out to one of several loan “servicers.” You can find the name and contact information for the servicer of your loans on the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) website.
After logging in, click on the individual loan number to access detailed information such as the “scheduled start of repayment” date and the servicer / lender contact information. The most common lenders for Boalt students are Direct Loan Servicing (ACS) and Department of Education (Pheaa). Regularly updated contact information for each servicer can be found on the Department of Education’s studentaid.ed.gov.
Some Boalt graduates reported that their federal student loans were transferred from Direct Loan Servicing (ACS) to another servicing provider without any notice or access information. The NSLDS website is the best place to find the new servicer’s information.
The financial aid office has received word from a growing number of you that at least one of your Direct Graduate Plus loans has been placed into early repayment by the Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS) due to an error in the ACS processing system. Some have been in repayment for some time and are now considered “past due” or may have had a payment deducted from your personal account.
We recommend that ALL students who have borrowed Graduate Plus loans view their loan record online at www.nslds.ed.gov. If Direct Loan (ACS) is your servicer and you find that your recent GradPlus loan(s) are in repayment, contact the ACS customer service center immediately at 1-800-848-0979. Ask to have the loan placed into forbearance until your graduation date and confirm your current address. It can take up to 7-20 days for the the request to be processed. For those of you who have had early payments deducted from your accounts, request that you be reimbursed. We are told it can take up to 6 weeks for the reimbursement to be processed.
If you find your interaction with the customer service representative unhelpful, ask to speak to a supervisor. Should you find that unhelpful as well, contact our office and we will contact them on your behalf.
Finally, we recommend that you report your loan servicing problem with ACS to the Consumer Financial Protections Bureau at 1-855-411-2372. We are hoping that enough students will submit a complaint with the CFPB to expedite the system-wide fix.
Wednesday, October 26
12:50 PM – 1:50 PM
Create a Spending Plan Information Session
170 Boalt Hall
Create a Spending Plan and Better Manage your Student Loans 1Ls: Plan to attend the info session aimed at taking control of your spending and planning your borrowing while at Berkeley Law. This session will enable you to evaluate your spending, assist in reducing your student loan debt, avoiding credit card debt, and becoming overall budget savvy. Download our Spending Plan spreadsheet and bring your laptop to the session. All students are welcome!
The “Spending Plan” workshop is postponed, and will now take place on Wednesday, October 26, at 1 PM in Boalt 170.
Later this week we will provide more details.
Equal Justice Works offers two webinars for entering students interested in government or public interest work after graduating.
Wednesday, August 10, 1-2 p.m. EST / 10-11 a.m. PST
Wednesday, August 24, 3-4 p.m. EST / 12-1 p.m. PST