President Bush signs new law impacting loan eligibility

On May 7, 2008, President Bush signed into law the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act of 2008 (H.R. 5715).  Effective July 1, 2008, the law allows for undergraduate students to borrow $2000 in Unsubsidized Stafford Loan funds in addition to their base Stafford Loan funds (freshmen - $3500, sophomores - $4500, juniors/seniors - $5500).

Those students who apply for and are eligible for federal aid will have the additional $2000 Unsubsidized Stafford Loan included on their Financial Aid Award Letter for 2008-2009.  

Unsubsidized Stafford Loans accrue interest while the student is in school.  We recommend that students pay the interest while in school as it should be more cost-effective than allowing the interest to capitalize (accrue).

Questions about your eligibility should be directed to the Office of Financial Aid. 

E-Mail to Students Re: Lender Industry Information

The following email was sent to all Wagner College students on April 9, 2008 via their Wagner e-mail account: 

Dear Students,

Many of you have probably heard about the uncertain climate in the student loan industry.  As a result of multiple issues, some lenders are choosing to suspend or leave the federal and/or alternative loan markets. 

Those of you or your parents who may borrow educational loans through the lenders listed below will need to choose a new lender for the coming academic periods.  If your lender is on this list, please be aware that this will not impact your financial aid eligibility.  However, you will need to complete new loan paperwork for the upcoming year. 

The list below contains some of the lenders that have suspended participation in or exited the student lending business.  This is not a complete listing of all lenders that have suspended/exited participation.  A continuously updated listing may be found at http://www.finaid.org/loans/lenderlayoffs.phtml.

  • Academic Finance Corp (AFC) - suspended federal loan programs
  • Acapita - suspended federal loan programs
  • College Loan Corporation (CLC) - suspended federal loan programs
  • HSBC - exiting federal loan programs
  • Goal Financial - suspending federal loan programs
  • M&T Bank - suspending federal loan programs
  • PHEAA- suspending federal loan lending
  • Student Loan Xpress (SLX) - exiting federal and alternative loan programs

If you are concerned about your lender's status in loan programs, you may want to contact your lender directly.  If you are uncertain about who you may have borrowed from, you may view your lending history at https://www.elmproduction.com/ELMBORRC/prepareLogin.do.  A user name and password is required and may be requested upon visiting this website.

Please be assured that the Office of Financial Aid will assist you in completing new promissory notes/applications.  We may be contacted at finaid@wagner.edu or 718.390.3183.

Sincerely,
Theresa M. Weimer
Director of Financial Aid

 

President Bush signs new legislation that impacts student aid

October 2007- President Bush signed the College Cost Reduction and Access Act into law recently.  The CCRAA impacts federal student aid in a number of ways including:

Loans

A reduction in lender subsidies will occur beginning October 1, 2007.  (Reduction in these subsidies may mean the benefits a borrower may receive on a loan may be impacted; contact your lender for details.)  In addition, a decrease in federal Subsidized Stafford Loan interest rates through 2012 was put into effect and income based repayment for certain students.

Grants

Due to the lender subsidies decreasing, an increase in the maximum Pell Grant through 2013 will occur. 

Beginning July, 2008, a TEACH grant has been authorized to provide a maximum of $4000 per academic year for undergraduate or postgraduate study for eligible teacher candidates.  The student must agree to teach full-time at certain schools and in specific fields.

FAFSA process 

Beginning with the next academic year, 2008-2009, paper FAFSAs will no longer be available at schools. The federal processor is encouraging students to apply via the web at www.fafsa.ed.gov as the large majority of students are filing now.  They anticipate that this will help significantly reduce the cost of printing and mailing the forms to schools and the renewal forms to students.  A student may call the processor at 800.4.FED.AID and request a paper FAFSA be mailed.  The processor has limited the student to three (3) paper FAFSAs per student.  In addition, a pdf version of the FAFSA will be available for download and mail  submission.

FAFSA filing options may be found at the Federal Student Aid website.  

Office Closings

The Office of Financial Aid will be closed on Friday, January 12, 2007 and Monday, January 15, 2007.  Additional Office closings typically include President's Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Thanksgiving Day and the day after as well as Christmas Week and New Year's Day .