Financial Aid : Direct LoanCriteria

Detailed terms of the federal direct loans

Eligibility

• full or half-time graduate students
• demonstrate financial need as determined by the institution
• U.S. citizen/national or an eligible noncitizen.

Annual Limits/Aggregate Limits

Graduate level - $8500 Direct Subsidized and $24,500 Direct Unsubsidized per academic year. The overall aggregate maximum is $224,000 (including undergraduate loans).  Note: the Direct Subsidized loan has an overall aggregate of $65,500.

Interest Rate

The fixed interest rate for all Direct loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2006 is 6.8 percent during in-school, deferment and repayment.  Loans with first disbursements between 7/1/98 and 6/30/06 will remain variable interest loans based on the 91 day T-Bill plus 1.7% (in-school) and 2.3% (repayment) with an 8.25% cap.  The government provides an up-front 0.5% interest rate rebate. A borrower retains the rebate by making the first twelve monthly payments on time. If all twelve payments are not made on time, the borrower will be required to repay the amount of the rebates (S).

Loan Fees

The government charges a 1% origination fee of the loan amount (deducted from the loan before it is disbursed).

Loan Repayment

Repayment begins six months (grace period) after the month in which you cease attending school at least half time. The standard repayment period is 10 years and an extended plan up to 25 years is available to students. During repayment a variety of plans will be available to assist borrowers in meeting repayment obligations, including: Income Based Repayment (IBR), graduated repayment, and standard plan.