TSU switches lending programs
Barbo: Direct Loans shortens loan transactions
Marshall A. Latimore
Online Editor
Issue date: 3/23/09 Section: Campus News
|
As a result, all students who rely on loans to fund their education at TSU will have to re-sign their master promissory notes.
Students can find out about this and ask questions about their financial aid in an April 1 town hall meeting, hosted by Financial Aid officials. The meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m. in the FPCC Forum.
Additionally, Financial Aid staff are availing themselves to assist students file their FAFSA and sign their MPNs in the Brown-Daniel third floor computer lab in room 317.
Christie Barbo, loan coordinator in Financial Aid, said that she and other Financial Aid officials made proposals to Johnson and his cabinet that would suggest a switch from the Family Federal Educational Loan (FFEL) program to the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program.
FFEL is a U.S. Department of Education program that allows private organizations to market, originate and service federally guaranteed loans, such as Stafford and PLUS loans to students and their parents, while the Direct Loan is a program by which the Department of Education acts as the lender for those same types of loans.
Financial Aid Associate Director Michael Jones said that due to staffing limitations, the office is switching from one program to another, rather than operating with both programs.
"There is just not enough personnel to cover both programs," said Jones. "Students don't have an option, all students will have to switch over to Direct Lending."
Johnson's decision comes on the heels of a Feb. 26 statement from U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, announcing U.S. President Barack Obama's fiscal year 2010 budget proposal to eliminate the FFEL program.
Duncan says America's students and workers need a higher level of education and training. He sees this happening by investing in the economic future and enable kids to compete in today's global environment..
"President Obama's proposed budget calls for a historic investment to make college more affordable and accessible and to help more students succeed once they get there," he explained. "The new funding announced today represents a significant expansion of our federal student aid programs, providing more dollars to allow more students to attend more schools."
Be the first to comment on this story