While the sequester does not currently impact the amount loaned to student borrowers, it does effect the origination fee of Direct Unsubsidized Stafford and Direct Graduate Plus loans.  The origination fee is a percentage of funds deducted from the loan before disbursement.  Borrowers can now expect to see 1.051% origination fees on Direct Unsubsidized Stafford loans and 4.204% origination fees on Direct Graduate Plus loans.  Previously these fees were 1% and 4%.

Loans borrowed for the Summer 2013 semester and going forward will carry the increased fees.  The Department of Education plans to notify via email those borrowers who are affected by this change, but please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.

The deadline for spring scholarship applications for current students is April 1 at 5:00 p.m.; less than two weeks away!  Make sure you check the criteria for each scholarship (listed at the top of our scholarship page) to see which opportunities you could apply for and what we’ll need from you.

We will email you in mid-April to let you know if you have or have not been selected to receive a scholarship.

Good luck!

Take some time this weekend to work on your Public Service Scholarship application which is due Monday, March 11 at 5:00 pm in the Office of Admissions and Student Financial Planning.  The scholarship recipient will be a student entering their final year of law school and will receive money to cover full tuition for their final year.

Good luck!

Our Endowed/Continuing Student scholarship application is only open until October 31 at 4:30 pm!  Have you applied yet?

Make sure you submit your standard essay, any additional essay related to any specific scholarship as required, and your resume along with your application.  We will need to receive all of these elements before the deadline.  For most of these scholarships, recipients will get their award for the Spring 2013 semester.

Note: students who have already received a full- or half-tuition scholarship are not eligible to apply.

Good luck!

This past week, Federal Student Aid launched it’s new website.  It is much more streamlined and is packed full of good information, interactive tools and FAQ’s to help students understand more about what it means to borrow Financial aid. 

Go to www.studentaid.ed.gov to check this all out!! 

Also they have launched many social media properties on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter in order to offer students, parents and borrorwers another avenue of communication to learn and understand the student aid process.  Be sure to check them out!

If you have accepted your financial aid already and will be expecting to receive a refund check for living expenses for your fall 2012 semester, you can expect to pick up your check from the BUSINESS OFFICE after 12pm on August 17th!!!

If you are an admitted student for the fall 2012 semester, there are a few things to keep in mind that you will need to do BEFORE August 1st, if you haven’t already:

1.  Fill out your FAFSA!  do this online at www.fafsa.ed.gov  Stetson COL’s school code is E00342. 

2.  Log on to your banner web account:  Accept the Terms and Conditions for Receiving Financial aid and accept, decline or partially accept your loans!
***Be sure to accept the lowest interest rate loan first: Unsubsidized Stafford loan is a 6.8% interest rate and 1% origination fee.  Then accept only WHAT YOU NEED of the higher interest rate loan: the Graduate Plus at 7.9% and 4% origination fee.***

3.  Do you Loan Entrance Counseling and sign your Master Promissory Note(s) online.  You will sign TWO MPN’s if you are taking both Stafford and Graduate Plus loans out. 

Please do this all as soon as you can before August 1st to ensure that your financial aid pays out onto your account in a timely manner. 

Sallie Mae, the nation’s No. 1 financial services company specializing in education, announced a new fixed interest rate option on its private education loans for academic year 2012-13. The new fixed interest rates, available to undergraduate and graduate students at degree-granting institutions on May 21, will start at 5.75 percent with no origination fees. Sallie Mae will continue to offer variable rate private education loans at rates starting at 2.25 percent for students at degree-granting institutions, with no origination fees.

If you are unfamiliar with Mark Kantrowitz, he is a financial aid expert and publisher of Fastweb.com and Finaid.org and also the author of “Secrets to Winning a Scholarship” so he knows his way around the world of financial aid, to say the least. 

In the New York Times he has published 5 parts worth of questions and answers regarding financial aid to give college students the best advice and help answer what seems like impossible questions when it comes to loan and budgeting advice. 

Some questions that are asked include:  the effect on a sudent’s financial aid package when they receives a private scholarship, advice for paying for private school, Graduate Plus co-signing advice and much, much more! 

Check out this Q and A series at: http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/11/fafsaq-and-a/

We just finished up our Exit Counseling sessions for our May 2012 graduates!  This is one of our most informative and beneficial financial aid sessions that we offer on-site which every student will attend before they graduate.  It gives you all the information you will need to realize your overall loan debt, pick a repayment plan, consolidate your loans or defer payment.  Currently, the Executive Director of Admissions and Student Financial Planning, Laura Zuppo holds these sessions and gives her first-hand knowledge on many of the subjects talked about.   

Here are the Top 10 Tips for upcoming graduates: 

1. Direct Stafford loans have an automatic 6 month grace period.
2. Direct Graduate Plus loans have an automatic 6 month deferment.
3. To postpone payments: you can choose a Deferment or Forbearance. 
4. You are eligible to change your repayment plan once a year. 
5. A standard repayment plan is a 10 year fixed or graduated (amount gets larger with time) monthly payment.  NO pre-pay penalties!  This plan results in the lowest interest paid. 
6. Extended repayment plan is up to 25 years and can be either fixed or graduated payments per month.  You pay a high amount of interest with this plan. 
7. An income contingent plan is based on income, family size, and loan amounts.  It is a 25 year repayment plan and changes in income impacts the monthly payment amount!
8. Income sensitive plans are for FFELP loans only.  This plan is based on income and total loan amount. 
9. Income-based repayment plan (IBR) payments are determined by income and dependents and NOT only the debt amount.  Payments can be as low as $0 per month in some cases.  For an online calculator visit:  http://www.ibrinfo.org/calculator.php
10. If you choose to consolidate your loans, you will only have one payment to one lender and takes about 2 months to complete. If you plan to consolidate, do the application now but don’t file too early to lose the benefit of the grace period.