Interested in a student checking account but wonder what will happen to your money once you graduate?

Well, it depends on where you open a student checking account. FiLife intern Mary Pilon called a bunch of the major banks to find out what they do to student checking accounts once the student graduates. Here's what she found out in her quest to avoid student check account heartbreak :

Below is a list of major banks and what they’ll do to their student customers once they graduate. If your bank isn’t on there, call them to head off any potential ickiness come cap-and-gown day.

Oh, and unless otherwise noted below, don’t expect any notification from your bank regarding the switch (thanks, banks!) But it shouldn’t really be a problem, since with a college degree comes the instant ability to have your entire financial life together. Ha!

Bank of America : Your student checking account (CampusEdge) is converted into a MyAccess checking account and the monthly fee is waived for the first 12 months you’re in the MyAccess account. After that, you have to have a qualifying monthly direct deposit to waive the monthly maintenance fees.

Chase : Two months before you graduate, Chase will send you a notice (either by paper or electronically, however you receive your bill) notifying you that you’ll be switched to a standard checking account with a $6 monthly fee unless you have a direct deposit into your account.

Citibank : After your expected date of graduation, your account will be converted into a standard Citibank account which bears a $9.50 monthly charge unless you have $6,000 in combined Citibank accounts (this includes checking, savings and credit cards ).

HSBC : Unclear on site and failed to respond to FiLife’s questions.

Key Bank : Student account becomes Key’s basic banking account (currently Key Express Free Checking) one statement cycle following the student’s 24th birthday or a maximum of four years from account opening date, whichever comes later.

U.S. Bank : When a person opens a U.S. Bank student banking checking account, it stays as a student checking account for five years, whether or not the account holder graduates from college. If the student doesn’t graduate and continues their schooling (i.e., graduate school), the account holder will move to a U.S. Bank Free Checking account. Ninety days before the end of the five-year period, you’ll get notification of the switch. Although there are no fees with the switch, former students lose four free ATM withdrawals per statement cycle and don’t get any more free checks.

Wachovia : Nothing happens, the customer would remain in the student designated account until they switch. They would just miss out on other benefits that they may now qualify for — the main one being better interest earning accounts. A Free Checking account has no minimum balance, no monthly service fee and no direct deposit requirement — so there are no fees to switch. You have to initiate the switch, or else you’ll be a 40-year-old still in student checking.

WaMu : No special student account. Students are put into WaMu Free Checking therefore the account never changes.

Wells Fargo : Two months before graduating, a student-checking-account holder receives notice that the account will be switched to a free checking account. There are no switching fees and no monthly service fees, except for in California where customers are switched to basic checking and the monthly service fee is waived.