Obtaining a college degree creates a pathway for low-income students and their families toward advancement within American society. Earning a postsecondary credential positively impacts an individual's employment outcomes, income, job satisfaction, and overall health. In working toward this goal, older, financially independent working students--referred to in this study as nontraditional students--rely heavily on federal student loans to finance their educations. Yet, they are at a higher risk of leaving school without completing their degree program, making them more likely to struggle during repayment and potentially go into student loan default. These struggles have an overall deleterious effect on their family finances over their lifetime. Among other things, student loan debt impacts individuals' decisions to get married, have children, purchase homes, and save for retirement. Federal loan counseling is intended to assist students with making informed borrowing decisions and managing their student loans. The Annual Student Loan Acknowledgement tool (ASLA) is the federal government's latest attempt to meet these objectives. This mixed methods research project had a pragmatic approach. A survey was the instrument used to assess low-income, nontraditional students' knowledge and understanding of the federal student loan and aid programs and application process. One-on-one interviews were tools to learn the impact of federal counseling on nontraditional students' attitudes toward accruing debt and completing their degree programs. To assess the overall effectiveness of federal counseling for nontraditional students, the researcher sought to determine if there were significant differences between ASLA completers and noncompleters in their knowledge of federal loans and aid programs, overall satisfaction with counseling and their borrowing decisions, and attitudes toward borrowing and persisting toward a degree. This study found no significant differences in any of these areas between students who did and did not complete the ASLA. Therefore, financial aid offices and schools need to explore more solutions to help nontraditional students to understand federal loan and financial aid programs and make more informed borrowing and academic decisions. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]