UNC is committed to making every attempt to keep the cost of attendance manageable for all students. However, even with this commitment to reasonable educational costs, many UNC students must take out student loans to meet their educational expenses. UNC has several loan options available. These are all interest bearing loans, which must be repaid. An educational loan is an investment in your education; it is also a tremendous financial responsibility since a loan must be repaid to the lender with interest. It is always best to borrow only what you need to meet your educational expenses.

Students who take module classes and receive federal financial aid, have new federal regulations which . Module classes are defined as any course that does not span the entire length of the full-term. If you take 5 credits as a graduate student or 6 credits as an undergraduate student, the minimum to qualify for a Federal Stafford loan, and then decide to drop a module course you are jeopardizing your loan and possibly other financial aid. Students need to complete at least 60% of their individual term to retain a full loan. For example, a student with Stafford loans signs up for Module A for three credits and Module B for three credits, both for 18 days each. The student completes Module A and then drops Module B. Since their loan was based on both modules, the days in the period for this calculation is 36 days and they successfully completed 18 days; their completion rate is 50%. Because they have not completed 60% of the days of their courses, some of their financial aid is required to be returned to the government. Traditionally students who have dropped module course(s) early had little impact to their federal loans. Now, depending upon the completion rate, federal loans are jeopardized when a module class is dropped . Please be sure you understand this change in regulations before you drop from a module course small loans Vermont.

Helpful Links

• Direct Loan Stafford Entrance and Exit Interview
• Direct Loan Grad Plus Entrance and Exit Interview

Loan Counseling Requirements

In an effort to increase understanding and reduce the default rate for student loans, the Federal Government requires that all first time borrowers complete an online entrance counseling session.

If you have previously received a loan at UNC and have completed entrance counseling, for Stafford Loans you are NOT required to complete another session. You WILL be required to complete an online session if you received a loan while attending a different school even though you completed an entrance counseling session for that institution.

Loan Entrance Counseling

• DL Stafford Entrance Counseling: If you are an undergraduate student and borrowing a Direct Stafford loan, you will be required to complete this.
• DL Plus Entrance Counseling: If you are a parent and borrowing a PLUS loan with an endorser, you will be required to complete this.
• DL Grad Plus Entrance Counseling: If you are a graduate student and borrowing a PLUS loan, you will be required to complete this.

Once a session is completed, loan proceeds may be available in three working days, provided that all other disbursement requirements have been met.

In addition, student borrowers who are graduating must complete exit counseling online during the last semester of attendance. Failure to complete exit counseling may result in a hold on all University services and materials including transcripts, diplomas and registration.

Loan Exit Counseling

• DL Stafford Exit Counseling
• DL Grad Plus Exit Counseling

Federal Loan Requirements

• Applicants must have a current year FAFSA on file and eligibility determined by the UNC Office of Financial Aid.