Certified Student Loan Professional: What They Do and When You Need One

The CSLP® Program is the leading professional training program and the only specialty designation for financial professionals focused on the advisement of student loan repayment.

CSLP® stands for Certified Student Loan Professional™. Working with a CSLP® can provide an additional measure of safety knowing the advisory services you receive are based on advanced knowledge about student loan advising and personal finance.

Our Student Loan Planner consultants Lauryn, Molly, Dan, Sim, and I all hold the CSLP® designation.

To understand how the CSLP® designation came about, it’s important to first understand the problems borrowers face when getting help with student loan debt.

Financial aid offices don’t help with student loan repayment

A school’s financial aid office has a duty to assist you and your family by providing information on ways to pay for your education at that college. This guidance typically includes help with learning about both federal and private student loan options.

The financial aid office isn’t responsible, nor does it have the expertise, to provide guidance on the repayment of these student loans for your specific financial situation.

Here’s why this is an issue for borrowers.

1. Student loans can be overwhelmingly complex

Federal student loans are unlike any debt out there for a few big reasons:

• There are income-based repayment options (REPAYE, PAYE, IBR, and ICR) with many nuances that deserve careful attention.
• The availability of loan forgiveness opportunities like Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) or taxable loan forgiveness after paying on an income-driven repayment plan for the maximum repayment period (20 or 25 years of monthly payments). The success of achieving this forgiveness, and achieving it efficiently, depends on the borrower's thorough understanding of these programs.
• Marital and tax filing status impacts income-driven payment calculations, making tax planning a topic of conversation while also planning out your student loan repayment strategy.

To summarize, student loan debt is complex. Therefore, borrowers are constantly told to turn to their loan servicers for help. However, sometimes that does more harm than good.

2. Student loan servicers have failed borrowers time and time again

Federal student loans are owned by the federal government but are serviced by contractors for the government, a.k.a student loan servicers.

There is a known trend of loan servicers failing to act in the borrowers’ best interests and/or blatantly giving incorrect information. These accusations include, but are not limited to:

• Failing to correctly apply or allocate borrower student loan payments to their accounts.
• Steering struggling borrowers toward multiple forbearances instead of income-driven repayment plans.
• Reporting loans incorrectly to the credit bureaus.
• Incorrect information is given to borrowers regarding income-driven repayment (IDR) options.
• Failing to inform borrowers of IDR plan renewal deadlines & mishandling requests for income-driven repayment plans.
• Misleading borrowers in public service professions when they tried to access PSLF.
• Incorrect payments counts for borrowers under the PSLF program.
• Incorrect information on qualifying/maintaining eligibility for PSLF in general.
• Servicer negligence in responding to bankruptcy proceedings.

At the end of the day, student loan servicers are private companies that collect debt on behalf of the government. They don’t work for you.

3. Borrowers are targets for student loan forgiveness scams

With no help from the financial aid offices that give you the loans (and little to no help from incompetent or unreliable loan servicers), frustrated and confused borrowers can be vulnerable to student loan scams.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever gotten a voicemail from someone claiming that “your student loans have been flagged for a new forgiveness program” and call them back quickly to “claim your spot!”

… I’m raising my hand, too, and I don’t have student loan debt.

Unfortunately, student loan borrowers (and non-borrowers) are increasingly spammed through phone calls, emails, letters and texts offering them relief from their federal student loans or warning them that student loan forgiveness programs would end soon.

With little regulation, new “student debt relief companies” pop up all the time. They’re often offering relief that seems too good to be true — which likely means it is too good to be true.

4. Financial advisors are not familiar with student loans

A financial advisor might be your next thought for student loan repayment help. But the unfortunate truth is that financial advisors often do not know the nuances of the student loan world either.

Frankly, the education on student loans a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) receives is within two pages of their coursework coming from six textbooks.

Financial advisors can also have a misalignment of incentives when it comes to student loans depending on how they’re compensated. The only way to align their interests with yours is for them to offer a flat fee for their advice.

Enter the Certified Student Loan Professional™

To say there was a need for a qualified, unbiased specialist in the area of student loan repayment planning, would be an understatement.

In 2016, the Board of CSLA was created with the mission of elevating the level of advice from financial professionals about student loan repayment.

The Board includes recognized, subject matter experts in student loan advising: Heather Jarvis, an attorney and a nationally recognized expert specializing in student loan law, and Jantz Hoffman, a Registered Investment Advisor who has been assisting clients with student debt since 2010.

With little to no guidance in this area of finance at the time, the organization’s priority was to have an identifiable credential that could be recognized by those seeking financial assistance with student loan repayment.

CSLA’s mission with the CSLP® designation is to help borrowers and financial advisors make fully informed decisions about student loan repayment within the context of a comprehensive financial plan.

Qualification and education requirements

To become a CSLP®, a professional must have two years of industry experience in:

• Financial services OR a bachelor's degree in business or finance from an accredited college or university, AND
• Hold a license and/or registration in a regulated financial services industry (brokerage, investment adviser services, insurance). This limits the designation to folks within the financial planning industry.

The self-paced, four-course online program consists of over 40 hours of audio-visual presentations on student loan advising including:

1. Student loan advising foundations

Learn about the basics of student loan repayment programs and their relevance to borrowers.

2. Student loan program analysis

This CSLP® module begins the advising journey by understanding the process of uncovering all the details about a borrower’s loans (terms, costs, rates, program rules and current status).

3. Student loan advising & financial planning

The modules in this course cover specific issues relating to legislation, planning using insurance, business entities, and multiple tax considerations borrowers will encounter.

4. Student loan advising case studies

The final course consists of examples of advising sessions using fictitious cases. You’ll review the present situation and goals, conduct an analysis and make recommendations.

Why should you hire a CSLP®?

As we learned above, a qualified CSLP® will have comprehensive education around student loan debt and how to navigate repayment with your specific financial situation and goals in mind.

According to the program, a CSLP® must also abide by the Code of Ethics & Standards of Professional Conduct:

“The CSLP Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct are fundamental to the values of the CSLP designation and essential to achieving its mission to help student loan borrowers and financial professionals become fully informed about strategies, risks, and rewards associated with the variety of student loan repayment options.”

Violations might result in sanctions by the Board. All CSLP® designees agree to the following:

1. Act with integrity, competence, and care.
2. Treat clients and others with dignity, courtesy, and respect.
3. Avoid false or misleading statements to clients and others.
4. Act in the best interests of your clients
5. Do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, age, medical condition, ancestry, marital status, citizenship, sexual orientation, or service in the uniformed services.

Standards of Professional Conduct of a CSLP®

• Require recent and reliable records. Before a CSLP® conducts their analysis, they must ask clients for recent and reliable records. Take care to identify indicators of incomplete or erroneous records. Exercise skepticism regarding communications from loan servicers, lenders, collection agencies, or others whose interests may not align with your client’s interests.
• Avoid conflicts of interest. Explain any foreseeable conflicts and secure informed client consent. When working with couples and families, secure informed consent regarding inherent conflicts of interest.
• Exercise care and diligence when using tools. This includes spreadsheets, online calculators, or student loan software. Understand underlying assumptions. Test outcomes for accuracy and reliability. Explain the limitations of projected outcomes to your clients.
• Help your clients make informed decisions. Explain the assumptions behind your recommendations. Inform clients of potential advantages and disadvantages of the various courses of action.
• Offer your client resources. Maintain and distribute up-to-date information about how to find consumer legal services and how to contact consumer protection agencies and advocacy organizations.
• Refer a professional when a topic is beyond your expertise. If a client presents facts or circumstances outside your area of competence, secure assistance from a competent professional, refer the client to a professional you reasonably believe competent or end your representation of the client.
• Identify when a client might benefit from legal counsel. Avoid the unauthorized practice of law. Refer clients to competent providers of legal services as indicated.
• Avoid monetary or other benefits that present a conflict of interest. Avoid accepting any money, benefit, or other consideration from those with interests potentially adverse to your client.
• Comply with all laws, including rules, and regulations governing the delivery of professional financial services.
• Be transparent about your scope of service. Communicate to your client any limits to the scope of your services. Describe the services that you will and will not provide.
• Provide pro bono services for financially distressed borrowers, if possible.
• Keep client records protected. Take care to ensure that client records and information remain confidential.
• Offer due diligence about refinancing. Warn clients to be cautious when evaluating refinancing. Clearly explain the unique consumer protections applicable to federal student loans.
• Answer questions within a reasonable turnaround. Respond to reasonable client communications in a timely manner.

Your resident CSLPs

What does CSLP® mean to you?

Lauryn, Molly, Dan, and I share what having the CSLP® means to us when it comes to our work in the student loan repayment space:

Meagan: “My CSLP® designation is my superhero cape. My specialized education in student loan and personal finance mechanics helps me help others find that peace of mind through a customized student loan plan.”

Lauryn: “It’s a commitment to ongoing education. Staying up-to-date on the latest information so that we can best help student loan borrowers make the best decision based on their personal situation.”

Molly: “I went early to a conference in 2019 to learn about student loans, something I felt very familiar with after having paid off my own six-figure debt. I was blown away by what I didn't know. Turns out I was learning the beginning of the CSLP curriculum! I knew back then I had to pursue this designation.”

Dan: “The CSLP®, to me, feels like a special club because membership is under 200 currently. I hope the number of qualified professionals grows dramatically over the next decade for the benefit of borrowers, but I also feel excited to be part of something at the (relative to older designations) beginning.

You can imagine that with a shortage in qualified advice for the millions of borrowers out there, some of the advice being handed out to borrowers is misguided and causing poor financial decisions to be made.”

We can help

Our business model here at Student Loan Planner is providing people with student loan advice. We only charge a one-time fee to build your customized student loan plan.