Boston University has bucked national trends and emerged as a leader in advising students on how to overcome student loan debt, university officials say, despite a condemning report issued by The Boston Globe last month.

A Nov. 19 Globe article highlighted supposedly predatory practices of debt collection at BU, Northeastern University and other colleges. BU officials said the university has historically been fair and thorough in guiding students through debt payment.

“Boston University is one of first schools in the United States to actually have a collection department, and it goes all the way back to 1978,” Student Loans and Collections Director Vincent Simonelli said. “I think over the years, our approach to things has matured quite a bit. We understand our clientele . . . We’re at the top of what university collection departments should do.”

Simonelli said BU does not prey on students, but helps them pay back their loans in a manner consistent with their individual economic situation.

“We do things in a way that allows us to sleep at night,” he said.

According to BU spokesman Colin Riley, half of all BU undergraduates receive need-based financial aid, including federal Perkins or Stafford loans. He said the average BU student graduates with close to $22,000 in total indebtedness, including loans outside the federal system.

“These particular programs were set up by the government to assist students who have needs based on the federal formula,” BU Comptroller Steve Singer said.

Simonelli said most cases do not end up going into default, defined as 240 days of non-payment of the loan balance.

Riley said the focus should not be on defaulting but on students’ obligations to pay back their loans so future students can receive financial assistance from a replenished fund.

“Every penny that comes in, in repayment, goes out to students,” Simonelli said. “At the end of every fiscal year, that fund has a zero balance.”

Debt can be a heavy burden on graduates entering the work force, Project on Student Debt Executive Director Robert Shireman said.

“An increasing percentage of students are finding it difficult to get those loans paid off in a reasonable amount of time,” he said, “and that can have implications in terms of young adults’ ability to buy a home, start saving for retirement and putting away money for their own kids’ education.”

The process of paying back loans begins once students have graduated. They are given a grace period of six to nine months before they have to start paying, depending on the loan, Simonelli said. Then, billing begins once a month. Most loans are repaid well within the 10-year period after graduation, Shireman said.

If students leaving the university have Perkins loans, a face-to-face interview is conducted — what Riley called a “customer-friendly, supportive, educational” process.

Simonelli said the main purpose of the interview is to educate students about credit, credit card debt and how payment of their loans will affect their future credit, as well as provide advice on how to best pay back their loans.

Once students begin paying back their loans, Simonelli said there are specific university programs to help them if they run into trouble, including unemployment or economic hardship deferments that extend for a maximum of 36 months.

Deferments begin automatically if a debt payment is past due and the student agrees to it, Simonelli said. Interest does not accrue during the deferment period.

But students who miss payments with an outside lender may end up paying more and over a longer period of time.

“Borrowers are delaying payments with the OK of the lender,” Shireman said, “and it means interest adding upon interest, compounding over time and lengthening the repayment period.”

BU students who miss a payment will begin getting notices at 15, 30 and 60 days past due, Simonelli said. Then, the account is moved into the collection department, which begins contacting the student by phone and mail.

“Call us before you miss a payment,” he said, “and you won’t go into default.”

Riley said the default rate on federal loans has consistently been in the low single digits, and Simonelli estimated the most current rate to be around 2 percent, below the federal mandate of 5 percent.

Though Simonelli said the default rate has not been above 3 percent “for several years,” the collection department handles around 40 to 50 cases per month from the Perkins loan portfolio. After determining each specific account situation, action is taken to help the student resolve the account by devising a plan for payment, usually done within 30 days.

Students who default on their loans are usually not in contact with the university, Simonelli said, and many efforts are made to contact them. If the university cannot find the student, BU hires an outside agency to do so.

Riley described the efforts the university takes to work with students about paying debt as exhaustive “almost to a fault.”

“What we do, as far as collecting on these loans, is done with the full understanding of where our clients are in their professional lives,” Simonelli said. “We will be patient at the beginning. We’ll set up something small at the beginning and expect it to increase over time.

“It’s the knowledge of who our students are, and where they are in their professional cycle, that we take into consideration when we actually sit down and work out some of these payment arrangements.”