FAFSA Loan Confusion: Do I Need New Entrance Counseling Each Year?

You're right - the entrance counseling is only required for first-time borrowers. You DON'T need to do it again each year. The screenshot confirms what I already knew. You completed it as a freshman, so you're good for your entire undergraduate career for that school. The Master Promissory Note (MPN) is also good for 10 years. Your financial aid office might be sending out generic checklists to all students, which is causing the confusion.

Actaully its more complicated then that. Some schools do make you redo counseling every year as a school policy even tho the federal rules dont require it. My school made me redo it sophmore year but not junior year. Its weird but they can add requirements

Financial aid advisor here. To clarify: Federal regulations only require entrance counseling once per loan type as a first-time borrower. However, schools have discretion to implement additional counseling requirements as part of their default prevention plan. If your financial aid checklist shows entrance counseling is needed, I recommend checking if your school requires annual counseling or if it's a new loan type (like if you're now getting PLUS loans when before you only had Direct Subsidized). When in doubt, complete the items on your school's checklist to avoid disbursement delays.

This happened to me and turned out to be a mistake on my school's system! The financial aid office had me marked as a new borrower even though I'd been getting loans for 2 years already. Took 45 minutes on hold to talk to someone but they fixed it in like 2 minutes once I got through.

Good luck getting someone on the phone at financial aid this time of year. I spent DAYS trying to reach a human at my daughter's school AND at the Federal Student Aid number. If you keep getting nowhere, check out Claimyr.com - I used it last month to reach a FSA agent after trying for three days on my own. They have a system that waits on hold for you and calls when a real agent is available. There's a demo video at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ that explains how it works. Saved me hours of frustration when we had a similar issue with loan requirements.

lol the whole student loan system is soooo broken. I literally had to fill out the same exact forms 3 different times last year because they kept "losing" them. And my entrance counseling mysteriously disappeared from their system TWICE even though I had the completion certificate. Financial aid office blamed the federal system, feds blamed the school. 🙄

UPDATE: Finally got through to my financial aid office. Turns out they DO require annual entrance counseling as part of their default prevention program, even though federal regulations don't mandate it. The advisor said it's because they have a high default rate and added this requirement to help students better understand their borrowing. So even though the screenshot from studentaid.gov is accurate about federal requirements, my school has stricter policies. For anyone else facing this, definitely check with your specific school rather than assuming the federal minimum is all you need to do!

Thanks for the update! This is a perfect example of why it's so important to check with your specific school rather than just going by federal requirements. I'm dealing with a similar situation at my school where they have additional exit counseling requirements that go beyond what's federally mandated. It's frustrating when schools don't clearly communicate these extra policies upfront, but I guess it makes sense from a default prevention standpoint. At least now you know for sure and can get your loan processed without delays. Did they give you any heads up about what to expect for senior year requirements?

This is such a helpful thread! I'm a sophomore and just got my financial aid package for next year - now I'm wondering if my school has any of these extra requirements beyond federal minimums. Better to find out now than get surprised later. Does anyone know if there's a way to proactively check what additional policies your school might have, or do you basically just have to wait until they send you the checklist? I'd rather not play phone tag with financial aid if I can avoid it.

I'm a new junior transfer student and this thread is super helpful! I completed entrance counseling at my previous school two years ago, but I'm wondering if transferring to a new institution means I need to do it again? The federal requirements seem clear that it's once per loan type, but after reading about schools having their own additional policies, I'm not sure if my new school will require me to redo everything. Has anyone dealt with transferring between schools and know if entrance counseling "follows" you or if each school can make you start over?

As someone who went through this exact same confusion last year, I can confirm that schools definitely have the authority to add their own requirements beyond federal minimums. My school requires annual financial literacy workshops for all loan recipients, even though it's not federally mandated. The key thing I learned is to always treat your school's financial aid checklist as the final authority, regardless of what federal sites say. While it might seem like extra work, I actually found the annual refresher helpful - loan terms and interest rates can change, and it's easy to forget important details about repayment options when you're focused on just getting through school. Save yourself the stress and just complete whatever your school requires, even if it seems redundant!

This whole thread has been incredibly eye-opening! I'm a freshman who just completed my entrance counseling and MPN a few months ago, and I was already dreading having to potentially redo all of this every year. It's good to know that while federal requirements are one thing, each school can have their own policies. I'm definitely going to bookmark this conversation and make sure to ask my financial aid office directly about their specific requirements before next year's aid package comes out. It's frustrating that this information isn't more clearly communicated upfront, but I appreciate everyone sharing their experiences - it's way more helpful than the generic info you find on most financial aid websites!

This is such a valuable discussion! I'm a sophomore and just realized I should probably check on this before my junior year aid package comes out. After reading through everyone's experiences, it seems like the main takeaway is that while federal law only requires entrance counseling once per loan type, schools can definitely add their own requirements on top of that. I'm curious - for those whose schools require annual counseling, do they make you go through the full federal entrance counseling module again, or do they have their own shortened version? I'm wondering if it's the same 20-30 minute process each time or if schools create their own streamlined versions for returning borrowers.

This thread has been incredibly helpful! I'm a transfer student starting my senior year and was completely confused about whether I needed to redo entrance counseling since I completed it at my previous school three years ago. Reading through everyone's experiences really drives home the point that you have to check with your specific school rather than just relying on federal guidelines. It's frustrating that there isn't more standardization across institutions, but I guess it makes sense that schools with higher default rates would want additional safeguards. I'm definitely going to call my new school's financial aid office this week to get clarity on their policies before my aid disburses. Thanks to everyone who shared their stories - this is exactly the kind of real-world advice you can't find in official FAQs!