Electronic Lender Options
History:
A Committee of Loyola University New Orleans administrators including the Provost , the Dean of Admissions and Enrollment Management and the Director of the Office of Scholarships and FInancial Aid decided at the end of the 2000-2001 academic year to switch processing of federal student loans from the Direct Student Loan Program to the FFELP Program. The primary motivation for the switch was the superior level of borrower benefits offered to families through the FFELP Program.
As we are a small university with a small financial aid staff, we initially contacted several major lenders to see if they would be willing to work with us as we wanted to maximize our technological resources to provide an electronic application process for our families. As we have gained experience with the technology, we have expanded the number of lenders in the process
Lender Criteria:
We have tried to identify and establish electronic relationships with lenders who meet the following criteria:
- Offer a competitive package of borrower benefits. Please note that many lenders, as a result of current conditions in the economy, have " temporarily suspended" virtually all of their borrower benefit programs.
- Offer a significant level of customer service including online options and "call centers" for our families who are not comfortable working online. We also looked looked at the lenders' ability to offer Spanish language support to address the needs of our Hispanic community.
- Offer robust repayment options and pro-actively work with borrowers throughout the life of the loan.
- Are well-known, established companies with a focus on student loans. There are a massive number of lenders who offer loans through the FFELP Program.
- We wanted to refer families to reputable companies that had a history of treating borrowers appropriately.
- Many of our undergraduate students will pursue graduate and professional degrees at other institutions. We wanted to initially focus on lenders that students could use throughout their studies.
Some Definitions:
- Guaranty Agency - The guaranty agency is an organization that works with lenders under the Federal Family Education Loan Program. Due to their outstanding record in working with borrowers, USA Funds has been the major guaranty agency that we utilize . American Student Assistance is the major guaranty agency for our Law Students. We will utilize the
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance ("LOSFA") for the majority of undergraduate loans during 2008-2009.
- he Louisiana Legislature has appropriated general funds for payment of the mandatory one percent (1%) federal default/guarantee fee, beginning July 1, 2006, for all borrowers of Federal Stafford, PLUS and Grad PLUS whose loans are guaranteed by LOSFA, when those fees are not paid by the lender. By appropriating these funds, the State of Louisiana acted to reduce students' cost of borrowing, to strengthen Louisiana's guaranty agency by making its guarantee price competitive and to promote the agency's long-term growth and contributions to state student assistance programs.
- Our computers are programmed to default to these organizations. If you would like to utilize another guarantor, please submit a written request to your counselor . We will check to see if your guarantor of choice can be incorporated within our current electronic processing flow.
- Servicer - Lenders work with organizations that handle many administrative tasks involved with the federal student loan program. Sallie Mae is a major servicer for many of the lenders.
2008-2009 Processing Information:
Check this page for information about lenders who will be participating in our electronic loan processing program during the 2008-2009 academic year.