Under applicable state law, except as preempted by federal law, you may have certain borrower rights, remedies, and defenses in addition to those stated in the Master Promissory Note (MPN) and the Borrower’s Rights and Responsibilities Statement.
DISCLOSURE OF LOAN TERMS
The MPN applies to Federal Direct Stafford/Ford Loans (Direct Subsidized Loans) and Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford/Ford Loans (Direct Unsubsidized Loans). Under this MPN, the principal amount that you owe, and are required to repay, will be the sum of all disbursements that are made (unless you reduce or cancel any disbursements as explained below under Loan Cancellation), plus any unpaid interest that is capitalized and added to the principal balance.
Each loan made under this MPN is separately enforceable based on a true and exact copy of this MPN. At or before the time of the first disbursement of each loan, you will receive a disclosure statement identifying the amount of the loan and additional terms of the loan. The Borrower’s Rights and Responsibilities Statement accompanying this MPN contains important additional information. The Borrower’s Rights and Responsibilities Statement and any disclosure statement you receive in connection with any loan under this MPN are hereby incorporated into this MPN.
The Act specifies annual and aggregate limits on the amount of loans you may receive under this MPN. You may request additional loan funds to pay for your educational costs up to the annual and aggregate loan limits by contacting your school’s financial aid office. Your school will determine if you are eligible for any additional loan funds. You will be notified of any increase or other change in the amount of your loan.
The amount of Direct Subsidized Loans and Direct Unsubsidized Loans you are eligible to receive may increase or decrease based on changes in your financial circumstances. Your school will notify you of any changes in your eligibility. You will be notified of any increase or decrease in the amount of your loan.
The Department of Education (ED) may use a servicer to handle billing and other communications related to your loan.
TIME LIMITATION ON DIRECT SUBSIDIZED LOAN ELIGIBILITY FOR FIRST-TIME BORROWERS ON OR AFTER JULY 1, 2013
If you are a first-time borrower on or after July 1, 2013 (see Note below), there is a limit on the maximum period of time (measured in academic years) for which you can receive Direct Subsidized Loans. In general, you may not receive Direct Subsidized Loans for more than 150% of the published length of your program of study. This is called your “maximum eligibility period.”
After you have received Direct Subsidized Loans for your maximum eligibility period, you are no longer eligible to receive additional Direct Subsidized Loans, and if you are enrolled in school you may become responsible for paying interest on your Direct Subsidized Loans. You may continue to receive Direct Unsubsidized Loans.
With certain exceptions as provided under the Act (such as if you graduate from your program of study before you receive or at the time you receive Direct Subsidized Loans for your maximum eligibility period), you will become responsible for paying the interest that accrues on your Direct Subsidized Loans during all periods if you:
The Borrower’s Rights and Responsibilities Statement that accompanies this MPN provides additional information concerning the limitation on Direct Subsidized Loan eligibility for first[1]time borrowers on or after July 1, 2013.
Note: A first-time borrower on or after July 1, 2013 is an individual who has no outstanding balance on a Direct Loan Program loan or a Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program loan on July 1, 2013, or who has no outstanding balance on a Direct Loan or FFEL program loan on the date he or she obtains a Direct Loan Program loan after July 1, 2013.
LOAN CANCELLATION
You may pay back all or part of a loan disbursement within the timeframes set by the Act, as explained in the Borrower’s Rights and Responsibilities Statement and in a disclosure statement that you will receive. If you return the full loan amount within those timeframes, you will not have to pay any loan fee or interest charges. If you return part of a disbursement within those timeframes, ED will reduce the loan fee and interest charges in proportion to the amount returned.
INTEREST
Unless ED notifies you in writing that a different rate will apply, the interest rate for any loan you receive under this MPN is a fixed rate that is calculated in accordance with a formula specified in the Act. The interest rate for Direct Subsidized Loans and Direct Unsubsidized Loans is calculated each year. When the rate is calculated, it applies to Direct Subsidized Loans and Direct Unsubsidized Loans for which the first disbursement is made during the period beginning on July 1 of one year and ending on June 30 of the following year. Different interest rates may apply to different loans you receive under this MPN, depending on when the loan is first disbursed and whether you are an undergraduate student or a graduate or professional student. The maximum interest rate for Direct Subsidized Loans and Direct Unsubsidized Loans made to undergraduate students is 8.25%. The maximum interest rate for Direct Unsubsidized Loans made to graduate or professional students is 9.5%. ED will notify you of the interest rate on each of your loans.
Except as explained below, you are not required to pay the interest that accrues on a Direct Subsidized Loan during an in-school, grace, or deferment period, and during certain periods of repayment under the Income-Based Repayment Plan and the Pay As You Earn Repayment Plan.
You must pay the interest that accrues on a Direct Subsidized Loan during all other periods (including forbearance periods), starting on the day after your grace period ends.
You must pay the interest that accrues during the grace period on any Direct Subsidized Loan for which the first disbursement is made on or after July 1, 2012 and before July 1, 2014. In addition, if you are a first-time borrower on or after July 1, 2013, under certain conditions you may become responsible for paying the interest that accrues on your Direct Subsidized Loans during all periods, as described under the heading “Time Limitation on Direct Subsidized Loan Eligibility for First-Time Borrowers on or after July 1, 2013.”
You must pay the interest that accrues on a Direct Unsubsidized Loan during all periods (including in-school, grace, deferment, and forbearance periods), starting on the date of the first disbursement.
You agree to pay all interest that accrues on your Direct Loan(s) during the periods described above. You will be given the opportunity to pay the interest that accrues during in-school, grace, deferment, forbearance, or other periods as provided under the Act. If you do not pay this interest, ED may capitalize the interest (add it to the principal balance of your loans) at the end of the grace, deferment, forbearance, or other period.
LOAN FEE
As provided by the Act, ED charges a loan fee for each Direct Subsidized Loan and Direct Unsubsidized Loan you receive under this MPN. The loan fee is a percentage of the loan amount and will be deducted proportionately from each disbursement of each of your loans.
The specific loan fee you are charged will be shown on disclosure statements that will be sent to you. ED may refund the loan fee only as permitted by the Act.
LATE CHARGES AND COLLECTION COSTS
ED may collect from you:
If you default on a loan, you must pay reasonable collection costs, plus court costs and attorney fees.
GRACE PERIOD
You will receive a 6-month grace period on repayment of each loan made under this MPN. The grace period begins the day after you cease to be enrolled at least half-time at an eligible school.
You are not required to make any payments on your loan during the grace period. However, you are responsible for paying the interest that accrues on your Direct Unsubsidized Loan and, in some cases (see “Interest” in this section of the MPN) on your Direct Subsidized Loan during the grace period, and this interest will be capitalized at the end of the grace period if you do not pay it.
REPAYMENT
You must repay the full amount of the loans made under this MPN, plus accrued interest. You will repay each loan in monthly installments during a repayment period that begins on the day immediately following your 6-month grace period on that loan. Generally, payments that you make or that someone else makes on your behalf will be applied first to late charges and collection costs that are due, then to interest that has not been paid, and finally to the principal amount of the loan. However, any payments made under the Income-Based Repayment Plan or the Pay As You Earn Plan will be applied first to interest that is due, then to fees that are due, and then to the principal amount.
ED will provide you with a choice of repayment plans. The Borrower’s Rights and Responsibilities Statement includes Information on these repayment plans.
ED will provide you with a repayment schedule that identifies your payment amounts and due dates. If you intend to repay your loan but are unable to make your scheduled loan payments, ED may grant you a forbearance that allows you to temporarily stop making payments or to temporarily make a smaller payment amount, which extends the time for making payments.
You may prepay all or any part of the unpaid balance on your loans at any time without penalty. If you do not specify which loans you are prepaying, ED will determine how to apply the prepayment in accordance with the Act.
After you have repaid in full a loan made under this MPN, ED will send you a notice telling you that you have paid off your loan.
ACCELERATION AND DEFAULT
At ED’s option, the entire unpaid balance of a loan made under this MPN will become immediately due and payable (this is called “acceleration”) if any one of the following events occurs:
The following events will constitute a default on your loan:
If you default, ED may capitalize all outstanding interest. This will increase the principal balance of your loan, and the full amount of the loan, including the new principal balance and collection costs, will become immediately due and payable.
If you default, the default will be reported to nationwide consumer reporting agencies (credit bureaus) and will significantly and adversely affect your credit history. A default will have additional adverse consequences as explained in the Borrower’s Rights and Responsibilities Statement. Following default, you may be required to repay the loan (potentially including amounts in excess of the principal and interest) under the Income-Based Repayment Plan or the Income-Contingent Repayment Plan in accordance with the Act.
LEGAL NOTICES
Any notice required to be given to you will be effective if it is sent by first-class mail to the most recent address ED has for you, by electronic means to an address you have provided, or by any other method of notification that is permitted or required by applicable statute and regulation.
You must immediately notify ED of a change in your contact information or status as specified in the Borrower’s Rights and Responsibilities Statement under “Information you must report to us after your receive your loan.”
If ED does not enforce or insist on compliance with any term of this MPN, this does not waive any right of ED. No provision of this MPN may be modified or waived except in writing by ED. If any provision of this MPN is determined to be unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in force.
Information about your loans will be submitted to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS). Information in NSLDS is accessible to schools, lenders, and guarantors for specific purposes as authorized by ED.
NOTICE ABOUT SUBSEQUENT LOANS MADE UNDER THIS MPN
This MPN authorizes ED to make multiple loans to you to pay your educational expenses during the multi-year term of this MPN, upon your request and upon your school’s annual certification of your loan eligibility.
At schools that are authorized to use the multi-year feature of the MPN and choose to do so, subsequent loans may be made under this MPN for subsequent academic years. At any school, subsequent loans may be made under this MPN for the same academic year.
No subsequent loans will be made under this MPN after the earliest of the following dates:
SECTION F: IMPORTANT NOTICES
GRAMM-LEACH-BLILEY ACT NOTICE
In 1999, Congress enacted the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (Public Law 106-102). This Act requires that lenders provide certain information to their customers regarding the collection and use of nonpublic personal information.
We disclose nonpublic personal information to third parties only as necessary to process and service your loan and as permitted by the Privacy Act of 1974. See the Privacy Act Notice below.
We do not sell or otherwise make available any information about you to any third parties for marketing purposes.
We protect the security and confidentiality of nonpublic personal information by implementing the following policies and practices. All physical access to the sites where nonpublic personal information is maintained is controlled and monitored by security personnel. Our computer systems offer a high degree of resistance to tampering and circumvention. These systems limit data access to our staff and contract staff on a “need-to-know” basis, and control individual users’ ability to access and alter records within the systems. All users of these systems are given a unique user ID with personal identifiers. All interactions by individual users with the systems are recorded.
PRIVACY ACT NOTICE
The Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a) requires that the following notice be provided to you:
The authority for collecting the requested information from and about you is §451 et seq. of the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965, as amended (20 U.S.C. 1087a et seq.) and the authorities for collecting and using your Social Security Number (SSN) are §484(a)(4) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 1091(a)(4)) and 31 U.S.C. 7701(b). Participating in the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program and giving us your SSN are voluntary, but you must provide the requested information, including your SSN, to participate.
The principal purposes for collecting the information on this form, including your SSN, are to verify your identity, to determine your eligibility to receive a loan or a benefit on a loan (such as a deferment, forbearance, discharge, or forgiveness) under the Direct Loan Program, to permit the servicing of your loan(s), and, if it becomes necessary, to locate you and to collect and report on your loan(s) if your loan(s) become delinquent or in default. We also use your SSN as an account identifier and to permit you to access your account information electronically.
The information in your file may be disclosed, on a case-by-case basis or under a computer matching program, to third parties as authorized under routine uses in the appropriate systems of records notices. The routine uses of this information include, but are not limited to, its disclosure to federal, state, or local agencies, to private parties such as relatives, present and former employers, business and personal associates, to consumer reporting agencies, to financial and educational institutions, and to guaranty agencies in order to verify your identity, to determine your eligibility to receive a loan or a benefit on a loan, to permit the servicing or collection of your loan(s), to enforce the terms of the loan(s), to investigate possible fraud and to verify compliance with federal student financial aid program regulations, or to locate you if you become delinquent in your loan payments or if you default. To provide default rate calculations, disclosures may be made to guaranty agencies, to financial and educational institutions, or to state agencies. To provide financial aid history information, disclosures may be made to educational institutions. To assist program administrators with tracking refunds and cancellations, disclosures may be made to guaranty agencies, to financial and educational institutions, or to federal or state agencies. To provide a standardized method for educational institutions to efficiently submit student enrollment status, disclosures may be made to guarantee agencies or to financial and educational institutions. To counsel you in repayment efforts, disclosures may be made to guaranty agencies, to financial and educational institutions, or to federal, state, or local agencies.
In the event of litigation, we may send records to the Department of Justice, a court, adjudicative body, counsel, party, or witness if the disclosure is relevant and necessary to the litigation. If this information, either alone or with other information, indicates a potential violation of law, we may send it to the appropriate authority for action. We may send information to members of Congress if you ask them to help you with federal student aid questions. In circumstances involving employment complaints, grievances, or disciplinary actions, we may disclose relevant records to adjudicate or investigate the issues. If provided for by a collective bargaining agreement, we may disclose records to a labor organization recognized under 5 U.S.C. Chapter 71. Disclosures may be made to our contractors for the purpose of performing any programmatic function that requires disclosure of records. Before making any such disclosure, we will require the contractor to maintain Privacy Act safeguards.
Disclosures may also be made to qualified researchers under Privacy Act safeguards. Under the Right to Financial Privacy Act of 1978 (12 U.S.C. 3401-3421), ED will have access to financial records in your student loan file maintained in compliance with the administration of the Direct Loan Program.