Xenia Daily Gazette

WILBERFORCE — Central State University will participate in a national pilot program to identify promising loan counseling practices that help students manage their federal aid.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Loan Counseling Experiment involves 51 colleges and universities and approximately 100,000 students. At each institution, half of the students will receive additional loan counseling that includes information about managing repayments after leaving school, and the other half will receive the current statutorily required one-time entrance and one-time exit counseling. Currently, Central State emphasizes financial literacy and provides increased information to help students manage their aid. This experiment will allow Central State to require more face-to-face counseling with financial aid officers.

At Central State, 82 percent of students receive Pell grants, a form of federal financial aid for families typically earning less than $60,000 a year, and many have no financial support from their parents, said Central State University President Dr. Cynthia Jackson-Hammond. CSU already incorporates financial literacy in freshman seminars, and has noticed increased interest from students in learning more about loan repayment, she said.

“If we can address problems a lot earlier, more often, give students the necessary tools to make the right decision, then we should see a reduction in the amount of debt,” Jackson-Hammond said.

Under the pilot, the colleges and Universities can employ the counseling services of outside groups, develop their own platform or use the department’s loan counseling tools.