2003
Summer Financial Aid Newsletter
FEDERAL
DIRECT LOAN E-SIGNATURE & MASTER PROMISSORY NOTE
Beginning with the 2003-2004 academic year, the MCC Financial Aid
Office will be instituting new procedures regarding the processing
of Federal Direct Student Loans.
The first aspect of the new procedures will be the implementation
of the Electronic Signature (E-Sign) process. Student will no longer
have a paper promissory note to sign and will instead sign an electronic
or on-line promissory note. To sign their promissory note, students
will be required to have a Federal PIN, which can be obtained on-line
at www.pin.ed.gov
Once the student has been assigned a PIN, they will then go to the
Direct Loan Master Promissory Note web site at http://dlenote.ed.gov
and use their PIN to sign the promissory note. The MCC Financial
Aid Office will be notified by the Direct Loan Servicing Center
once the student has successfully completed the process.
The second aspect of the new procedures
is the “Master Promissory Note”. The Master Promissory Note (MPN)
removes the requirement for most students to sign a new promissory
note for their student loan each academic year. The Financial Aid
Office will notify students if they will need to sign a new MPN
or not.
FEDERAL PARENT LOAN FOR UNDERGRADUATE
STUDENTS
The Federal Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS) program
is available to parents of dependent students to help meet their
educational expenses. To be eligible for this program, parents must
have an acceptable credit history and the student must be enrolled
at least half-time (6 credit hours) in a degree program.
Parents can borrow an amount equal to the
student’s cost of attendance, minus any financial aid the student
is receiving. The interest rate is variable and is capped at 9%.
The interest rate for PLUS loans for the 2003-2004 academic year
will be 4.22%. Repayment of the loan begins 60 days after the final
loan disbursement for the period of enrollment for which the loan
is borrowed.
For more information on the PLUS Loan program,
students and parents can contact the MCC Financial Aid Office or
visit the MCC Financial Aid web page at www.monroecc.edu/go/finaid/.
DOWNLOAD FINANCIAL AID FORMS
Do you need a verification worksheet or a Direct Loan Request Form?
If so, you no longer need to go to the MCC Financial Aid Office
to pick those forms up. Students can now download many of the MCC
financial aid forms right from the MCC Financial Aid Web Page.
All a student needs to do is go to the MCC
Financial Aid Web Page at www.monroecc.edu/go/finaid/
, and then click on “Forms” on the navigation bar, and from there
a student can download any of the forms that they might be required
to submit to the MCC Financial Aid Office.
NEW INTEREST RATES FOR THE FEDERAL
DIRECT STUDENT LOAN PROGRAM
Interest rates for Stafford loans and Parent Loans for Undergraduate
Students (PLUS) will drop to historical low rates of 3.42% and 4.22%,
respectively, spelling continued good news for borrowers. Stafford
loan rates for students within the six-month grace period or in
deferment will drop to 2.82% from last year's 3.46%.
Last
year's loan rates of 4.06% for Stafford Loans and 4.86% for
PLUS loans also set record lows and triggered a surge in the number
of borrowers seeking to consolidate their loans.
The rates for Stafford and PLUS loans are
based on the yield for the 91-day Treasury bill that was set on
May 28, plus a fixed margin. Treasury bills, or T-bills, are marketable
securities the U.S. government sells in order to pay off maturing
debt and raise the cash needed to run the federal government.
Interest rates for the 2003-2004 academic
year for loans disbursed after July 1, 1998 are as follows:
Direct Subsidized & Unsubsidized Loans for in school school,
grace, and deferment periods = 2.82% (91 day T-bill + 1.7).
Direct Subsidized & Unsubsidized Loans during repayment or forbearance
= 3.42% (91 day T-bill + 2.3). Federal Direct PLUS Loans = 4.22%
(91 day T-bill + 3.1).
The interest rates for loans disbursed prior
to July 1, 1998 will vary according to when the loan was disbursed.
Interest rates for Subsidized & Unsubsidized Loans are capped
at 8.25% and PLUS Loans are capped at 9.00%.
FALL 2003 FINANCIAL AID REMINDERS
Filing the 2003-2004 FAFSA:
Student’s who still need to file their 2003-2004 Free Application
for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) can do so in the financial aid lab.
Student must bring their completed FAFSA and their 2002 income information.
Contact the MCC Financial Aid Office or check the MCC Financial
Aid web page for dates & times for when the FAFSA filing workshops
are scheduled.
Loan Entrance Counseling:
Students who are borrowing a student loan at MCC for the first time
are required to complete a Loan Entrance Counseling
Session. To meet this requirement, students must complete the loan
entrance counseling session online at www.monroecc.edu/go/finaid/.
From there, click on the “Loan Entrance Counseling” link on the
navigation bar.
2003-2004 APTS Applications:
The 2003-04 Aid for Part-Time Study Applications
are now available in the MCC Financial Aid Office. If you are enrolled
as a part-time student (3-11 Credit Hours), you may be eligible
to receive financial aid through this program. The APTS application
may also be downloaded from the MCC Financial Aid web page.
Bookstore Credit:
Bookstore credit will be available to students for the 2003 Fall
semester who have completed the financial aid application process
and will be eligible to receive financial aid in excess of their
tuition & fees for the semester. This credit can be used by
students to purchase books and other necessary supplies for their
courses. Student can use their bookstore credit from August 25th
through the end of September.
2003 Winter
Financial Aid Newsletter
2003
Spring Financial Aid Newsletter
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