Financial Aid Literacy & Debt Management

Physician Education Debt, AAMC Feb 2013

What is Financial Aid Literacy – Debt Management?

It's the ability to understand money and how to manage it so that you can make informed financial decisions – to save, manage and better protect your money. Help you prepare for the unexpected events and plan for the short or long-term goals.

National Student Loan Data System (NSDLS)

  • Contain all Federal Loans
  • Provide total loan amount
  • Provide total loan Interest

** Interest not paid will be added (capitalized) to the principal amount when grace period ends.

Fico Score Breakdown

  1. Payment history – 35% (Accounts paid on time)
  2. Amount owed – 30 % (# of accounts w/balances)
  3. Length of credit history – 15% (Larger the BETTER)
  4. New Credit – 10% (Recently opened accounts)
  5. Types of credit used – 10% (Variety is BETTER- Credit cards, car loans, mortgages, etc.)

Helpful Hints

  • Guard your Social Security Number (SS#)
    • Keep in a secure place
  • Check your credit report ANNUALLY
    • Verify for accounts
  • Password - difficult to guess
    • Don’t use birthdays or mother’s name
  • Be alert to sign of Identity Theft
    • Being denied or contacted by debt collectors

A Direct Consolidation Loan allows a borrower to consolidate (combine) multiple federal student loans into one loan. The result is a single monthly payment instead of multiple payments. A student can pay interest while in school. For more information, contact 800-557-7392.

Electronic Payment

In some cases, you might be able to reduce your interest rate if you sign up for electronic debiting. To learn more, speak with your loan provider.

Financial Awareness Counseling Tool (FACT)

The U.S. Department of Education released a new interactive loan counseling tool to provide students with financial management basics, like information about their current loan debt and estimates for student loan debt levels after graduation. Students can access the new resource, known as the Financial Awareness Counseling Tool (FACT).

Accept My Financial Aid Award

Login to Banner Self-Service, click on the Financial Aid tab, select award, then select the aid year; a page should display six tabs. Click the Accept Award Offer tab. If the tab is not active, click terms and conditions and accept then click accept award offers.

Automatic Deposit Set-Up

Login to Banner Self-Service, click on the Student tab, select student account, at the bottom of the page click on view/pay fees, a new page will appear at the top of the page select e-refunds.

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Graduate/Professional Students

Beginning July 1, 2012, the Federal Direct subsidized student loan will no longer be available to graduate students.

New subsidized Stafford loans issued in 2012-13 will accrue interest during the six-month "grace period" after students leave school. This will also be the case for loans issued in 2013-14. However, the federal government will continue to cover the grace-period interest for all subsidized Stafford loans issued before July 1, 2012, and the grace-period subsidy is scheduled to go back into effect for loans issued on or after July 1, 2014.

Borrow Only What You Need

  • Borrow as a last resort and only borrow what you need. Money you don't borrow is money you don't have to pay back.
  • You don't have to borrow the maximum amount of federal student loans each year; you can request a lower amount through your financial aid office.

Legal Information

Contact Us

Janice Maddox
Literacy Coordinator
910 Madison Avenue, Suite 520
Memphis, TN 38163
(901) 448-1601
Email: jmaddox9@uthsc.edu