Student Financial Aid

Student debt is a form of debt that is owed by an attending, withdrawn or graduated student to a lending institution. The lending in question may usually be in the form of a student loan, but debts may also be owed to the school itself if the student has dropped classes and withdrawn from the school (especially if a low- or no-income student has withdrawn with a failing grade, which would functionally deprive the student of the ability of further attendance by disqualifying the student of necessary financial aid); such due payments may be a retroactive penalty for services rendered by the school to the individual, including room and board.

As with most other types of debt, student debt may be considered defaulted after a given period of non-response to requests by the school and/or the lender for information, payment or negotiation; at such a point, the debt is turned over to a Student Loan Guarantor or a collection agency. Furthermore, until the student debt (also known as "financial obligations") is paid in full, most educational institutions will retain control over student records and transcripts long after the student has ended his or her attendance to the school, functionally disqualifying the student from attending another educational institution that is demanding of a full archive of the student's past attendances; however, if the student either begins to make a monthly payment to alleviate the debt or pays the debt with another student loan, the former school may allow for an unofficial copy of the transcript to be sent to the latter institution in order for registrar of the latter institution to remove a hold on further attendance.