NSLDS
If a student is inquiring about the school (but has not yet applied) and reveals that they may be in default on previous student loans can NSLDS be checked with their permission?
I think this is a good approach to have the students contact the lenders for resolution. The school can help and guide but the student needs to be the one owning the resolution of their personal record.
Also, when the student fills out the FAFSA, the FAFSA will inform the student if they are reported on NSLDS. Usually, when a student indicates to me that the FAFSA is inidicating that they are not Title IV eligible, I have them go home and check out the student portal to NSLDS and have them contact the lenders, who they are are in defualt with.
NSLDS is very important to FA, and students can also view there own info
I would have them go on to the student website and check it themselves.
I think that is a great site for the sudent.
I was not aware that students can log in NSLDS. This is very helpful. Even though we are not allowed to, this gives the student the oppurtunity to look into there situation. I have heard some schools to acces NSLDS first thing. Big NO NO!!
The student can access their information on NSLDS website.
From my understanding the institution is not allowed to check NSLDS without the student being enrolled. The student may access their previous financial aid history by requesting a password for NSLDS themselves. The student should also be advised of options in clearing the default, if in fact they were defaulted.
Students can request a log in password from NSLDS and request status themselves. A contract with the school must be signed first by the student in order for an institution to inquire on their previous financial aid history.
students have access to NSLDS too, just like Financial Aid staff.
can students get on nslds, or is it fa only?
The school would not be able to check NSLDS.
The school cannot check a student's record in NSLDS unless it has "an existing relationship with the student". A relationship is considered to exit in the following instances: the student is currently enrolled at the school, the student has applied for admission at the school, the student has applied for financial aid at the school and/or the student was previously enrolled at the school.
Students can access the NSLDS web site. We can provide that information to them.
Default is by far the paramount issue concerning NSLDS, and when and by whom it can be checked. One of the other issues we see is that of overlaping loans. Not being able to check NSLDS prior to enrollment WITH the consent of the student, makes it difficult to determine what funding may look like at the school they are inquiring about, if some portion of their aid has disbursed to a prior institution. Again, not nearly the same impact as default, but it is another area where our hands become tied and we cannot offer the student the most accurate/up to date information regarding their aid. The student portal on NSLDS doesn't show their loan periods for prior funding at other schools, so we have to rely on the student to know the loan periods, which, unfortunately is not always something they are aware of (determining ovelap could make or break the student). It seems that student consent should trump relationship with the school. It also seems that it serves the student to know about overlapping loans and how their aid can be affected from one school to the next when overlapping loans are involved. Is anyone aware of why the specific restrictions to NSLDS are in place?
Yes, this would be good. The student that is applying for school has the ablity to check the loans while they are in your office. At that time the student would know how the loan status is and at that time the student would know how to clear up any issues.
Often in a student's subsequent year repack, the student may have questions about the loans she has taken out so far. I show her how to log in to nslds.ed.gov, so that they can get a jumpstart on managing their loans.
Eileen - Thanks for providing these details for students to access their informtion on nslds!
Unless the student has a relation with the school (ie. student is enrolled, has applied for admission or financial aid, or is a previously enrolled student) to be able to run NSLDS on the prospective student. I would inform her/him that they can use her pin# to access her student loan history by visiting the NSLDS on his/her own.
