Managing Your Student Loans

As a federal student loan borrower, it is incumbent on you to make sure that you fully understand the terms, conditions and responsibilities of student loan borrowing. There are certain steps as a borrower that you are required to complete. In addition, there are certain habits which you can begin to develop now which will serve you well as you progress through your career here at HSDM, as you pursue any additional education and when you enter loan repayment.

First time HSDM loan borrowers

  1. You will need to complete the Permission to Hold Funds form and submit it to Financial Aid. Federal law requires that student loan funds cannot be held on a student’s account in order to pay charges which are considered “discretionary” without the express permission of the student. Discretionary charges include such things as health insurance, housing costs, library fees, printing charges, etc. If we do not have a copy of this form on record, you will be refunded any loan funds which would otherwise go towards these charges. You will then have to make a payment on your student account.
  2. You will need to complete a Master Promissory Note (MPN) and an online Entrance Counseling Interview (EI). You can complete both online by following the steps below.
    • Go to https://studentaid.gov/
    • You will need to log in using your FSAID
    • Once you have logged in, click on “Complete Aid Process”
    • Select "Complete a Master Promissory Note (MPN)"
    • Select “Subsidized/Unsubsidized”
    • Follow the instructions to complete the Master Promissory Note
    • Once you have completed the MPN, return to the “Complete Aid Process” screen and select “Complete Counseling”
    • Click on “Entrance Counseling”
    • You will need to select “Massachusetts” as your state and select “Harvard School of Dental Medicine” as your school
    • Indicate that you are a graduate student
    • You can then complete the Entrance Counseling
  3. You will also be required to complete an in-person Entrance Counseling Interview with the Director of Financial Aid. You will receive instructions on how to set up that interview at Orientation.

For all loan borrowers

  1. You should regularly check on your federal student loans by visiting the National Student Loan Database System at https://studentaid.gov/. This website is maintained by the U.S. Department of Education and contains a record of all of your federal loans, regardless of from which institution you may have borrowed them. It will also contain information regarding your federal loan servicer. HSDM strongly encourages you to regularly check your NSLDS account to verify it’s accuracy and to track your borrowing
  2. You should also begin maintaining your AAMC/ADEA Dental Loan Organizer and Calculator (DLOC). The DLOC is a service offered by American Dental Education Association (ADEA) in partnership with the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC). The DLOC will allow you to track your student loan borrowing while being able to project what loan repayment options you might have once you do go into repayment.  You can register for the DLOC by going to https://www.aamc.org/services/fao-first/godental/.