Student Loans
Office of the Qualified Education Loan Ombudsman
Providing timely assistance to any qualified loan borrower from the Commonwealth of Virginia.
LOAN SCAM ALERT: During these unprecedented times, scammers are targeting student loan borrowers. If you receive an email, text or phone call from someone saying they are working with the department of education and want to help you with loan forgiveness, you should be suspicious. For resources on how to confirm whether it is a scam, here are two resources that can help:
Federal Student Aid: studentaid.gov/resources/scams
Federal Trade Commission: ftc.gov/coronavirus
The Office was created to provide an advocate and online resources to citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia who are thinking about using student loans to help fund their higher education goals, or who already have loans and need help avoiding default or getting out of default. The Student Loan Advocate can serve as a liaison between the student loan borrower and loan servicers or other agencies, helping to explore repayment options and attempt to resolve complaints. Any matters that are considered to be abusive, unfair, deceptive or fraudulent will be referred to the Office of the Attorney General.
Qualified Education Loan Borrower Education Course
The Office now provides future, current and former students with a concise overview of the student loan borrower process in the form of online modules. Links to the modules are listed on the right hand sidebar. It is organized so that you can review the content from the start of the loan exploration process to the finish of loan repayment, or you can select the content that is most relevant to where you are in the student loan borrowing process. Phase One of this project includes a summary of the major topics and links to more detailed content. The major topics focus on borrower needs expressed through work completed by the Student Loan Advocate. Phase Two will provide video and interactive content. If at any time, you have questions about your own loan situation, please contact the Student Loan Advocate. If you are ready, you can proceed to the first module: Understanding Student Loans.
Need assistance with your student loan situation?
The Student Loan Advocate can assist you with your unique student loan situation. In order to help determine the best way to address your student loan issue, complete the Student Complaint Form, skipping any questions that do not seem relevant to your situation. Answer “Yes” to question #15 about whether your complaint is related to a student loan, and the Student Loan Advocate will follow up with you within 4-5 business days.