Wilkes University has participated in the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) where students and parents borrow from participating lenders and loans are guaranteed by a guaranty agency. This program was used for all Stafford and Parent Plus Loans. Changes in this program have caused some lenders to withdraw from the program and more may follow. Wilkes has decided to be pro-active to ensure that the lending process remains as smooth and easy as possible for our students and their parents. As a result, we will participate in the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program beginning with the 2010-2011 academic year. This is a direct lending or direct loan program where all loans are provided through the U.S. Department of Education and guaranteed by the federal government.

The direct lending program offers the same loan amounts for Stafford and Plus Loans previously provided by the FFELP. The change to direct lending will not impact your ability to obtain funding as you may have done under the previous program, but you will need to complete new paperwork. Both new and continuing student and parent borrowers will be required to complete a new electronic master promissory note (MPN).  You will receive an email this spring with a link that will take you to the online site for signing the MPN.

Financial Aid and Student Services will be updating all publications and web pages with Direct Loan information over the coming months. We will work with new students to alert them to the change to Direct Lending. We also will communicate information to our current borrowers about how this change will impact future borrowing and repayment.

Please watch for additional information about these changes in the coming weeks on Today@Wilkes, in your Wilkes email and on the Wilkes Web site.