Student Loan Forgiveness Programs and Social Media Messages

There are some articles popping up on social media saying that they can assist Hawkeye Community College students with student loan forgiveness. One example is a recent Facebook post linked to the website Daily Saving Club offering borrowers assistance with loan forgiveness or consolidation programs for a fee.

This post cites an article from Huffington Post claiming predatory lending and recruiting practices at Hawkeye. In fact, the article quoted is from 2012 and discusses a for-profit college chain — NOT Hawkeye Community College.

Hawkeye Community College is a non-profit community college in Iowa and is not affiliated with any for-profit college system, nor has it been cited for predatory practices.

Need Assistance with Your Loans?

Like with any other financial decision, it is very important to do your research, and it should all be FREE.

The Department of Education (DOE) provides a very easy to follow guide for all student loan borrowers who wish to start repaying, consolidating or self-assessing whether or not they may qualify for loan forgiveness. Visit Federal Student Aid: Understanding Student Loan Repayment.

At the time students accept a student loan while attending a post-secondary institution, the DOE automatically assigns a federally approved servicer to them. This loan servicer is not the same for all students, but once a student borrows a student loan, the Department of Education ensures that all future student loans are assigned to that same servicer. Students are strongly encouraged to start conversations with their loan servicer before anybody else when trying to make any type of decisions on their student loans. Look up your loan servicer and how to contact them.

As always, you are welcome to check with Hawkeye's Financial Aid office with any correspondence you may have received or seen to help determine its accuracy.