FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO): Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne will be an experimental site for a Loan Counseling Initiative.

The United States Department of Education announced last week that 51 colleges were invited to participate in the experiment, according to IPFW. The experiment will test the effectiveness of requiring loan counseling more than what is required right now.

“We’re looking forward to providing students information that will improve their understanding of their student loan debt,” said Director of Financial Aid David Peterson. “We see the Loan Counseling Initiative as another opportunity to educate our students on how to better manage their student loans.”

Around 100,000 students in America will be in the study and half will be assigned to a “treatment group.” The other half will be assigned a “control group,” that group will receive the current required entrance and exit counseling.

According to the Department of Education, the study will continue for several years. The Department of Education hopes to determine if the additional local counseling will improve student decision-making about how much to borrow, promotes successful repayment of student loans and has an impact on students’ academic performance.