The Office of Undergraduate Financial Aid would like to provide you with important information regarding your loans for the academic year. This document will explain the various loan programs, their provisions, and how to complete the appropriate application materials to obtain the loans. You should accesss CAESAR (www.northwestern.edu/caesar) to view the amount of your loan offer online, accept your loan, and ensure that all appropriate loan materials have been completed. For more information please contact our office or visit our website at www.undergradaid.northwestern.edu. FEDERAL DIRECT STAFFORD S LOAN PROGRAM Direct Stafford s are either subsidized or unsubsidized. Eligible students may borrow Direct Subsidized Stafford s up to a maximum of $3,500 for the freshman year, $4,500 for the sophomoree year, and $5,,500 for the junior and senior years. Under the Direct Unsubsidized Stafford program, students may borrow an additional $2,000 each year beyond these annual limits. Repayment of your loan will begin six months after you graduate, leave the University, or are enrolled less than half-time. This six month period before you begin repaying your loan(s) is called a grace period. You have ten years to repay your Direct Stafford. The interest rate is fixed at 4.66 % for the Direct Subsidizedd and Unsubsidized Stafford s and have a 1.072% origination fee, which will be deducted from the gross amount of the loan borrowed. FEDERAL DIRECT SUBSIDIZED STAFFORD LOAN L PROGRAM F The Direct Subsidized Stafford is awarded on the basis of need. Interest for this loan is paid by the federal government while you are enrolled at least half-time, are in deferment, or during your grace period. FEDERAL DIRECT UNSUBSIDIZED STAFFORD LOAN PROGRAM For the Direct Unsubsidized Stafford, you are responsible for the interestt from the time the loan is disbursed until it is paid in full. You can pay the interest while you are enrolled, or you can allow the interest to accrue while you are in school and have the interest added to the principal amount. This means the interest will be capitalized. Note that if interest accumulates, the total amount you repay will be higher than if you paid the interest during enrollment. APPLYING FOR YOUR DIRECT STAFFORD LOAN In addition to accepting your loan online via CAESAR, you must also submit a formal application for the loan. This is done by completing a Federal Direct Stafford Master Promissory Note (MPN) with the Department of Education. You will need to electronically sign the MPN at www.studentloans.gov. Once you sign on, select "Complete Master Promissory Note." You will then need to select "Subsidized/Unsubsidized" on the MPN Type Selection page. Be sure to select "NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY - DLID: G01739." You will receive confirmation upon completion of your MPN. Be prepared to include two references and your driver's license number. You will need your Department of Education PIN to sign in to the site and to sign your MPN. This is the same PIN used to complete your FAFSA. (If you do not have a PIN you may request one www.pin.ed.gov.) You must also complete the online entrancee counseling before your loan proceeds can be credited. Entrance counseling explains your responsibilities as a borrower. Log on via www.studentloans.gov, select "Complete Counseling," "Entrance Counseling," and I am completing entrance counseling to receive Direct s as an undergraduate student. Upon completion, be sure to keep a copy of your confirmation. FEDERAL PERKINS LOAN The Perkins is a federal loan program which is awarded on the basiss of need and is borrowed directly from the school. This loan is subsidized, which means that interest on the loan is paid by the federal government while you are enrolled at least half-time, are in deferment, or during your grace period. Repayment of your loan will begin nine months after you graduate from Northwestern, leave the University, or are enrolled less than half-time. This nine-month period before you begin repaying your loan(s) is called a grace period. You have ten years to repay your Perkins. The interest rate is fixed at 5%. APPLYING FOR YOUR PERKINS LOAN OFFICE OF UNDERGRADUATE FINANCIAL AID 1801 HINMAN AVENUE, 2 N ND FLOOR EVANSTON, IL 60208-1270 (847) 491-74000 EDUCATIONAL LOAN INFORMATION 2 2014-15 When ready to process, Campus Partners will contact you through your Northwestern e-mail account to complete the Perkins materials online. The materials include an entrance interview, application, and master promissory note.
SAMPLE LOAN REPAYMENT The chart below is provided in order to help you estimate monthly payments for your educational loans based on the amount borrowed and the interest rate of the loan. If you would like to calculate repayment for different loan amounts or interest rates, we encourage you to visit the Federal Student Aid Direct website and use the Student Calculator at http://www2.ed.gov/offices/osfap/direct/calc.html. Amount # of Payments 5% 5% Interest Rate 4.66% 4.66% $5,000 120 $53 $1,364 $52 $1,276 $10,000 120 $106 $2,728 $105 $2,553 $15,000 120 $159 $4,092 $157 $3,829 $20,000 120 $212 $5,456 $209 $5,105 ACCEPTING/ADJUSTING YOUR LOAN IMPORTANT LOAN INFORMATION Northwestern University s Computer Assisted Electronic Student Access Route (CAESAR) provides an online gateway to students for managing university-related tasks and services. One of the most important financial aid features of CAESAR is the ability to accept your financial aid award online. All loan and work-study offers must be accepted, declined or reduced before the aid can be processed. This can be completed by selecting the "Accept/Decline Financial Aid" link in CAESAR (www.northwestern.edu/caesar). Once the loan has been processed, any adjustment requests will need to be e-mailed to the Office of Undergraduate Financial Aid from your Northwestern e-mail address. If a mid-year adjustment results in increased Direct Stafford or Perkins eligibility after your initial loan has been processed, you will receive notice of the increase. You may adjust or reject the additional amount at that time; otherwise the additional loan will be processed automatically. ANTICIPATED LOAN CREDITS Anticipated loan funds will appear on your University billing account pending receipt of your actual disbursement. You may access CAESAR to monitor actual and anticipated funds on your billing account under Student Financial Services>View My Account. You should also check your CAESAR To-Do List to determine that all appropriate loan materials have been completed to ensure that your loan can be processed. RECEIVING YOUR LOAN FUNDS If you are enrolled for the entire academic year, your loan will disburse and be credited to your billing account in even thirds at the beginning of each quarter. The Office of Student Accounts will notify you via e-mail when your funds have disbursed. IMPORTANT POLICIES SATISFACTORY ACADEMIC PROGRESS To be eligible to receive federal student aid, you must meet and maintain standards of satisfactory academic progress toward your degree. Be sure to become familiar with the University s Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy as outlined on the Undergraduate Financial Aid website and in The Undergraduate Catalog. EXIT INTERVIEWS If you borrowed a Stafford or Perkins during your enrollment at Northwestern, you will be required to complete an Exit Counseling session prior to graduation or upon your withdrawal from the University. DEFAULTED LOANS If you have defaulted on a prior Federal Stafford or Federal Perkins, you will not be eligible for any federal, state or University aid until you have satisfactorily met the repayment terms of the defaulted loan. You must contact your previous lender and/or guaranty agency to correct your default or pre-claims status.
FINANCING OPTIONS FOR PARENTS FEDERAL DIRECT PLUS LOAN The Federal Direct Parent for Undergraduate Students (PLUS) allows a parent with satisfactory credit history to borrow up to the estimated cost of attendance, minus any other aid the student may be receiving. The borrower must be the student's biological or adoptive parent or the student's custodial stepparent, if the biological or adoptive parent has remarried at the time of application. The student must be a dependent student who is enrolled at least half-time. Parents and their dependent child must be U.S. citizens or eligible noncitizens, must not be in default on any federal education loans or owe an overpayment on a federal education grant, and must meet other general eligibility requirements for the Federal Student Aid programs. If the parent is denied a Direct PLUS, the student may be eligible to borrow additional funds through the Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford program. Funds are borrowed from the U.S. Department of Education and an origination fee of 4.288% is deducted from the loan proceeds. The interest rate is fixed at 7.21%. Interest is charged on the loan from the date that the first disbursement is made, and repayment of principal begins within 60 days of the final disbursement for the academic year. The maximum repayment period is 10 years. There is no penalty for early repayment. Parents may choose to defer payments on a Direct PLUS until six months after the date the student ceases to be enrolled at least half time. Accruing interest could either be paid by the parent borrower monthly or quarterly, or be capitalized quarterly. APPLYING FOR A DIRECT PLUS LOAN You do not need to have been offered a Direct PLUS on your award letter in order to apply for this loan. The offer of a PLUS on your financial aid award does not guaranty eligibility. You must submit an application and a Direct PLUS Master Promissory Note if you decide to borrow; this is done via the www.studentloans.gov website. Anticipated Direct PLUS credits are applied to your University invoice only after your completed loan application and MPN have been approved by the Department of Education and certified by the Financial Aid Office. Please note that students must complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) before a PLUS can be processed. 1. COMPLETE THE DIRECT PLUS LOAN REQUEST The Direct PLUS Request is a 4-step web form that is completed on the U.S. Department of Education's www.studentloans.gov website. The parent borrower must sign in to the website with his or her Federal Student Aid (FSA) PIN. A borrower who does not have a PIN can request one via the FSA PIN website at www.pin.ed.gov In addition to providing basic demographic information and completing a credit check, the Direct PLUS Request allows borrowers to indicate a loan amount as well as whether any loan credit should be released to the parent or the student. Your PLUS amount will be processed to disburse evenly over the three terms in the academic year (fall, winter and spring) unless you contact our office to instruct us otherwise. The parent borrower can e-mail our office at undergradaid@u.northwestern.edu with any special instructions. Be sure to include the student s University ID number. 2. COMPLETE A DIRECT PLUS MASTER PROMISSORY NOTE In addition to the Direct PLUS Request, you must also complete a Master Promissory Note (MPN). The MPN is a legal document in which you promise to repay your loan and any accrued interest and fees to the U.S. Department of Education. It also explains the terms and conditions of your loan. The MPN can be completed electronically online at the www.studentloans.gov website. If you are borrowing Direct PLUS s for more than one student, you will need to complete a separate MPN for each one. To complete an MPN online, you will be required to use your U.S. Department of Educationissued PIN (not the student s). If you do not have a PIN, you may request one from the official FSA PIN website. In most cases, once you've submitted the MPN and it's been accepted, you won't have to fill out a new MPN for future loans you receive to pay for the educational expenses of the same student. You can borrow additional Direct s on a single MPN for up to 10 years. If you used a co-signer or an endorser, you will need to complete a new MPN for each loan and each year. You'll receive a disclosure statement that gives you specific information about any loan that the school plans to disburse under your MPN, including the loan amount and loan fees, and the expected loan disbursement dates and amounts.
NU LOAN FOR PARENTS The NU is a financing option that may allow a parent with satisfactory credit history to borrow up to the cost of attendance less other financial aid received. This loan program is funded privately by the University and is serviced by the NU Student Office. The interest rate is variable and is announced each year in July for the upcoming academic year. There are two interest rates for this program. If an NU is greater than the cost of tuition, the amount borrowed above the cost of tuition will be subject to a higher interest rate. For 2014-15, the rates are 4.5% and 5.0%. Repayment of both principal and interest begins within 45 days of the initial disbursement and can extend up to a maximum of ten years. There is no penalty for early repayment and no origination fee. APPLYING FOR AN NU LOAN The NU application is available online beginning in early July. Students must initiate the process. You may complete the student portion of the NU Application by accessing www.northwestern.edu/caesar/. Begin the online process under Student Financial Services > NU Application. instructions and additional information are also presented there. Once you have completed the student section of the NU Application, the parent(s) you designate as parent-applicants (comakers) will receive via e-mail (if provided) or U.S. mail an NU log-on, password and a link to the on-line application. Your parent s log-on and password will allow him/her to access and complete the parent portion of the NU Application. Once the application is complete, a conditional decision of approval will be available within 24 hours. This decision will be conditional pending final approval from both the Offices of Undergraduate Financial Aid and Student s. Amount # of Payments 4.5% SAMPLE LOAN REPAYMENT 4.5% 5.0% 5.0% 7.21% 7.21% $10,000 120 $104 $2,437 $106 $2,728 $117 $4,057 $20,000 120 $207 $4,874 $212 $5,456 $234 $8,114 $30,000 120 $311 $7,310 $318 $8,184 $351 $12,171 $40,000 120 $415 $9,746 $424 $10,911 $469 $16,228
PARENT LOAN COMPARISON CHART Who borrows the loan? Federal PLUS Parents of dependent students borrow this federal credit-based loan NU For Parents Parents or legal guardians are the primary borrowers of this creditbased institutional loan Minimum/Maximum Amount No minimum loan amount. The maximum loan amount is Northwestern s cost of attendance less other financial aid received. There is a minimum loan amount of $2,000 for this loan. The maximum loan amount is Northwestern s annual cost of attendance less other financial aid received. Fixed at 7.21% The rate is variable and may change each year on September 1. The interest rate is 4.5% for the 2014-15 academic year for NU amounts up to the cost of tuition. The interest rate is 5.0% for any amount borrowed beyond the cost of tuition for the academic year. Fees 4.288% of the total loan amount as an origination fee There are no application or origination fees Repayment/Deferment Repayment begins 60 days after the final disbursement. Parents may choose to defer payments on a PLUS until six months after the date the student ceases to be enrolled at least half-time. Accruing interest could either be paid by the parent borrower monthly or quarterly, or be capitalized quarterly. None. Repayment begins 45 days after the initial disbursement Denial Options If the parent is denied a PLUS, the student may be eligible to borrow additional funds through the Federal Unsubsidized Stafford program. None Aggregate Limit None Families of undergraduate students are not to exceed a cumulative loan debt equal to the cost of tuition for four years. Consolidation Eligible for Federal Consolidation None CONTACT INFORMATION The chart below provides contact information for the various offices involved in loan processing and billing. Billing related questions should be directed to the Office of Student Accounts. Questions regarding anticipated credits, loan documents received and other aid issues should be directed to the Office of Undergraduate Financial Aid. Office Phone E-mail Address Undergraduate Financial Aid 847-491-7400 undergradaid@u.northwestern.edu 1801 Hinman Ave, 2 nd Floor Student Accounts 847-491-5224 studentaccounts-ev@northwestern.edu 555 Clark, 1 st Floor Student s 847-491-3125 studentloans@northwestern.edu 555 Clark, 3 rd Floor