@Autowired
private LoginDAO loginDAO;

@Repository("loginDAO")

DEBUG - Returning handler method [public java.lang.String com.accademics.web.controllers.LoginController.checkCredentials(com.accademics.web.models.LoginModel,org.springframework.validation.BindingResult)]
DEBUG - Returning cached instance of singleton bean 'loginController'
inside controller checkCredentials
LoginModel [username=admin, password=password]
service checking login of admin and password
DEBUG - Resolving exception from handler [public java.lang.String com.accademics.web.controllers.LoginController.checkCredentials(com.accademics.web.models.LoginModel,org.springframework.validation.BindingResult)]: java.lang.NullPointerException
DEBUG - Resolving exception from handler [public java.lang.String com.accademics.web.controllers.LoginController.checkCredentials(com.accademics.web.models.LoginModel,org.springframework.validation.BindingResult)]: java.lang.NullPointerException
DEBUG - Resolving exception from handler [public java.lang.String com.accademics.web.controllers.LoginController.checkCredentials(com.accademics.web.models.LoginModel,org.springframework.validation.BindingResult)]: java.lang.NullPointerException
DEBUG - Could not complete request
java.lang.NullPointerException
    at com.accademics.data.services.LoginServiceImpl.checkCredentials(LoginServiceImpl.java:18)
    at com.accademics.web.controllers.LoginController.checkCredentials(LoginController.java:39)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at org.springframework.web.method.support.InvocableHandlerMethod.doInvoke(InvocableHandlerMethod.java:205)
    at org.springframework.web.method.support.InvocableHandlerMethod.invokeForRequest(InvocableHandlerMethod.java:133)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.ServletInvocableHandlerMethod.invokeAndHandle(ServletInvocableHandlerMethod.java:116)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.invokeHandlerMethod(RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.java:827)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.handleInternal(RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.java:738)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.AbstractHandlerMethodAdapter.handle(AbstractHandlerMethodAdapter.java:85)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doDispatch(DispatcherServlet.java:963)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doService(DispatcherServlet.java:897)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.processRequest(FrameworkServlet.java:970)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.doPost(FrameworkServlet.java:872)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:648)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.service(FrameworkServlet.java:846)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:729)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:230)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:165)
    at org.apache.tomcat.websocket.server.WsFilter.doFilter(WsFilter.java:52)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:192)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:165)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:198)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:108)
    at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:472)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:140)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:79)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.AbstractAccessLogValve.invoke(AbstractAccessLogValve.java:620)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:87)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:349)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.service(Http11Processor.java:784)
    at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProcessorLight.process(AbstractProcessorLight.java:66)
    at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$ConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:802)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.NioEndpoint$SocketProcessor.doRun(NioEndpoint.java:1410)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.SocketProcessorBase.run(SocketProcessorBase.java:49)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.TaskThread$WrappingRunnable.run(TaskThread.java:61)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-4.3.xsd">

    <bean id="loginService" class="com.accademics.data.services.LoginServiceImpl"/>

</beans>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
    xmlns:mvc="http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc/spring-mvc-4.3.xsd
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-4.3.xsd
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/context http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-4.3.xsd">

    <mvc:annotation-driven />

    <context:component-scan base-package="com.accademics.web.controllers"></context:component-scan>

    <bean id="viewResolver"
        class="org.springframework.web.servlet.view.InternalResourceViewResolver">
        <property name="prefix" value="/WEB-INF/views/" />
        <property name="suffix" value=".jsp" />
    </bean>

    <bean id="messageSource"
        class="org.springframework.context.support.ResourceBundleMessageSource">
        <property name="basename" value="messages"></property>
    </bean>

    <mvc:resources location="/resources/" mapping="/resources/**"></mvc:resources>

</beans>

<form  action='<spring:url value="/student/login"></spring:url>' method="post" autocomplete="on">
                            <h1>Log in</h1>
                            <p>
                                <label for></label>
                            </p>
                            <p>
                                <label for="username" class="uname" > Username </label>
                                <input id="username" name="username" required="required" type="text" placeholder="Username"/>
                            </p>
                            <p>
                                <label for="password" class="passwd"> Password </label>
                                <input id="password" name="password" required="required" type="password" placeholder="Password" />
                            </p>
                            <p class="keeplogin">
                                <input type="checkbox" name="saveLogin" id="saveLogin" value="saveLogin" />
                                <label for="saveLogin">Keep me logged in</label>
                            </p>
                            <p class="login button">
                                <input type="submit" value="Login" />
                            </p>
                          </form>

package com.accademics.web.controllers;

import javax.validation.Valid;

import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.context.MessageSource;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Controller;
import org.springframework.ui.Model;
import org.springframework.validation.BindingResult;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.ModelAttribute;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMethod;

import com.accademics.data.services.LoginService;
import com.accademics.web.models.LoginModel;

@Controller
@RequestMapping("/student")
public class LoginController {

    @Autowired
    public LoginService loginService;

    @Autowired
    MessageSource messagesource;

    @RequestMapping(value="/login", method=RequestMethod.GET)
    public String displayLogin(Model model){
        return "student_login";
    }

    @RequestMapping(value="/login", method=RequestMethod.POST)
    public String checkCredentials(@Valid @ModelAttribute LoginModel loginModel, BindingResult result){
        System.out.println("inside controller checkCredentials");
        if(result.hasErrors()){
            return "student_login";
        }
        System.out.println(loginModel);
        boolean userExists = loginService.checkCredentials(loginModel.getUsername(), loginModel.getPassword());
        if(userExists){
            System.out.println("valid");

            return "dashboard";
        }else{
            System.out.println("invalid");
            result.rejectValue("userName", "NotNull.login.invalidUser");
            return "student_login";
        }

    }
}

package com.accademics.data.services;

import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Service;

import com.accademics.web.DAO.LoginDAO;

@Service("loginService")
public class LoginServiceImpl implements LoginService {

    @Autowired
    private LoginDAO loginDAO;

    @Override
    public boolean checkCredentials(String username, String password) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        System.out.println("service checking login of "+username+" and "+password);
        return loginDAO.checkCredentials(username, password);
    }

}

package com.accademics.web.DAO;

public interface LoginDAO {

    public boolean checkCredentials(String username, String password);

}

package com.accademics.web.DAO;

import java.util.List;

import org.hibernate.Query;
import org.hibernate.Session;
import org.hibernate.SessionFactory;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Qualifier;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Repository;


@Repository("loginDAO")
public class LoginDAOImpl implements LoginDAO {

    @Autowired
    private SessionFactory sessionFactory;

    protected Session getSession(){
        return sessionFactory.getCurrentSession();
    }

    @Override
    public boolean checkCredentials(String username, String password) {

        System.out.println("Checking login");

        //HQL
        String hquery = "from student_credentials where student_credentials.username=? and student_credentials.password=?";
        boolean userFound = false;
        Session session = getSession();
        Query query = session.createSQLQuery(hquery);
        query.setParameter(0, username);
        query.setParameter(1, password);

        List list = query.list();

        if(!list.isEmpty()){
            userFound = true;
        }

        session.close();
        return userFound;

    }

}

NotNull.login.invalidUser = Invalid Username/Password