To ensure that students have access to the full range of financial aid they may need to succeed, colleges must be able to confidently and responsibly offer federal student loans. The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) and the California Community Colleges Student Financial Aid Administrators' Association (CCCSFAAA) support colleges in this goal. However, to date, there has been very little independent research or analysis of loan program practices, particularly at community colleges. To help fill that void, TICAS and CCCSFAAA have come together to highlight practices that colleges are pursuing to encourage responsible borrowing. The size and diversity of the California community college system make it a particularly interesting and useful focus for this study. California's 112 community colleges enrolled about 2.5 million students in 2010-119--more than one in five community college students nationally, and about one out of every ten undergraduate students at all colleges combined. The community college system also enrolls the vast majority of low-income and underrepresented students within California. Interviews with a dozen community college financial aid officials in California, supplemented by research at the national level, revealed a range of ways that colleges are promoting responsible borrowing. Interviews for this report were conducted in late 2011, and practices described in this report reflect college practices for the 2011-12 academic year. In summary, TICAS & CCCSFAAA encourage colleges to: (1) Ensure students know that loans are available; (2) Provide guidance to help students understand the implications of their borrowing decisions; (3) Coordinate with other student services professionals and faculty to make students' academic success the top priority; (4) Require additional counseling for students who may be at risk; (5) Deny individual loans when appropriate; (6) Automate processes to maximize staff time with students and identify students needing outreach; and (7) Help students avoid default, but keep concerns about default rates in perspective. Appended are: (1) Santa Rosa Junior College's "Worksheet for Student Borrowers," 2011-12; (2) Northern Virginia Community College's "Student Loan Policies and Procedures at NOVA," 2011-12; and (3) Federal Financial Aid and Enrollment Data by Race/Ethnicity at California Community Colleges, 2010-11. (Contains 19 footnotes.) [This paper was commissioned by the California Community Colleges Student Financial Aid Administrators Association (CCCSFAAA).]