I may have been clueless when it came to my loans but, honestly, I thought the way to start repaying my loan was to wait for my 6 month grace period to come up.
Nope. You gotta do something called an "exit interview".
I thought, "okay..what was my entrance interview?"
the entrance interview is the session you have with your Financial Advisor when you're signing those loan contracts. The "interview" is them explaining the terms and you signing something saying you get what they're saying.
The exit interview is similar to that.
Being an advocate for doing things online, I opted for doing my exit interview online. To be honest, I liked it this way. First, you have to read pages and pages about where your loan money was applied to your degree. They explain payment and interests and terms and everything. I decided to print every page out and highlight things I feel will be important in the future. If you take the time to read it, you'll find some interesting tidbits I bet you didn't know about your loan.
For example, with my loan, there is a suprise about taking time off between semesters. If you take time off during your degree program, that time off is taken out of your 6 month grace period you have after graduation. So, let's say I took 3 months off for winter quarter. That means that I have to start paying my loan 3 months after grad instead of 6.
See? It pays to read the fine print.
According to the letter from Berkeley, it said the process can take anywhere from 30-45 minutes. So when you get your letter, grab a cup of coffee and grab yourself a comfy seat because I will take you that long. There is a lot to read and at the end, there is a quiz! (and I thought I was done with quizzes!) It's a good way for them to know you get that you have to pay this money back.
If this sounds a little too nuts to fill out on your own, you know you can always head to school and have a session with a Financial Advisor. Remember, Berkeley services extend past graduation.
