(Bloomberg) -- College financial aid counselors aresupposed to be students’ primary resource to help figure outhow to pay for school —determining how much they'll need to borrow, the types ofloans best suited for them, and sources of cash. Buta recent survey suggests that most young Americans saddledwith student debt aren’t getting that level of care.

Less than half of millennials who have dealt with student loans called college financial aidoffices “helpful,” according to a September online survey of 2,086American adults conducted by ORC International for Citizens Bank,one of the nation’s largest lenders and a unit of Providence-basedCitizens Financial Group Inc.

Millennials’ dim view of their schools’ financial aid officescomes nearly a decade after New York State prosecutors accusedcolleges and financial aid counselors around the country ofaccepting kickbacks from lenders in exchange for sending thembusiness from new student borrowers. Those allegations ledto numerous settlements with lenders and schools, while theNational Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators —which lobbies on higher education finance issues in Washington onbehalf of college aid counselors — agreed to abide by a detailedcode of conduct.

Beth Guerard Maglione, a spokeswoman for the financial aidgroup, didn’t respond to requests for comment on the survey.

While the survey found just 49 percent of millennials,defined as people between the ages of 18 and 35, found collegefinancial aid counselors helpful, that's still a bigger share thansaid any other sources of information were helpful.

Further down the list of options presented to those surveyedwere the U.S. Department of Education, college advisers, andfamily and friends. At the very bottom were branchbankers: A paltry 7 percent of respondents said bankers andphysical branches were helpful to them in dealing with studentloans.

Considering how little help they said they're getting, it’sno wonder that 69 percent of the millennials surveyedsaid applying for student loans caused them more stressthan applying to college. About three-quarters ofmillennials polled said that the borrowing experience wasconfusing and that they wished they had someone to help themnavigate the process.

“People were even more confused than we thought they were,” saidChristine Roberts, head of student lending at Citizens.

The survey, one of many commissioned by Citizens in recentyears, is part of the bank’s effort to expand its studentlending business. In response to various survey results, thecompany has asked for less paperwork from borrowers,simplified application form language and added training forbranch bankers, Roberts said.

The Citizens survey also found that four of every fivemillennials with student loans worry about their ability to repaythat debt — something with which many millennials are alreadystruggling. About 25 percent of the country's student loanborrowers are either in default or in arrears on their debt.

That figure could have broader economic consequences. With aboutone in six American adults, or more than 40 million people,collectively owing nearly $1.4 trillion on their college debt,federal financial regulators have warned that the growing pile ofstudent loan bills may hold back economic growth as indebtedAmericans cut back on spending.

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