Loans

You must submit a FAFSA and be enrolled at least half-time (six credits per semester for undergraduates; 4.5 credits per semester for graduate students) to be eligible for these loans. For the Subsidized loan, you must demonstrate financial need as determined by the FAFSA. The amount of loan eligibility is based upon the student's grade level and financial need. If the student changes grade levels within the academic year, the financial aid office will award the additional funds automatically and send a revised offer letter notification to the student's WIT email.

If a student drops below half-time enrollment, the loans will go into the grace period and then repayment. Should the student return to half-time or greater enrollment, the loans will go back into deferment. Should a student use their grace period prior to graduation, it may no longer be available and upon graduation, and the student will directly into repayment.

First-time borrowers are required to complete Entrance Counseling and a Master Promissory Note (MPN), which detail the borrower’s rights and responsibilities.

Subsidized loans are need-based loans. Interest on these loans does not accrue while you are in school and during the 6-month grace period after you leave school. Unsubsidized loans begin accruing interest as soon as they are disbursed to the school on your behalf.

• Freshmen: $3,500 subsidized + $2,000 unsubsidized
• Sophomores: $4,500 subsidized + $2,000 unsubsidized
• Juniors and Seniors: $5,500 subsidized + $2,000 unsubsidized

Independent students, and any dependent student whose parent was denied a Parent PLUS loan, are eligible for additional unsubsidized loans:

• Freshmen and Sophomores: $4,000 additional unsubsidized
• Juniors and Seniors: $5,000 additional unsubsidized

If you are a graduating senior and are attending less than three semesters (less than two semesters if you are a 5th-year BELM student), your Federal Direct Stafford loans may be prorated based on the number of credits for which you are enrolled. This means that you may not be eligible to receive your maximum annual loan limit.

The Department of Education requires schools to pro-rate your Federal Direct Stafford loans if you will be graduating from the school in less than an academic year.

Loan proration applies only to undergraduate students; it does not apply to graduate or professional students.

Example of dependent student proration calculation:

• 12 credits enrolled in each semester
• 31 academic year credits
• 12 / 31 x 5500 subsidized loan = $2129

• 12 credits enrolled in each semester
• 31 academic year credits
• 12 / 31 x 2000 unsubsidized loan = $774

Example of independent student proration calculation:

• 12 credits enrolled in each semester
• 31 academic year credits
• 12 / 31 x 5500 subsidized loan = $2019

• 12 credits enrolled in each semester
• 31 academic year credits
• 12 / 31 x 7000 unsubsidized loan = $2710

Examples for Students Enrolled Full-Time for Two Semesters

Example of dependent student proration calculation:

• 24 credits total (12 credits enrolled in each semester)
• 31 academic year credits
• 24 / 31 x 5500 subsidized loan = $4258

• 24 credits total (12 credits enrolled in each semester)
• 31 academic year credits
• 24 / 31 x 2000 unsubsidized loan = $774

Example of independent student proration calculation:

• 24 credits total (12 credits enrolled in each semester)
• 31 academic year credits
• 24 / 31 x 5500 subsidized loan = $4258

• 24 credits total (12 credits enrolled in each semester)
• 31 academic year credits
• 24 / 31 x 7000 unsubsidized loan = $5419

Interest Rates

Interest rates for the 2024-2025 loans:

The interest rates for 2024-25 federal student loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2024 will be:

• 6.53% for undergraduate Federal Direct Stafford Loans
• 8.08% for graduate Federal Direct Stafford Loans
• 9.08% for Federal Direct Grad PLUS Loans
• 9.08% for Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loans.

Interest rates for 2023-24 loans:

The new interest rates for 2023-24 federal student loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2023 will be:

• 5.498% for undergraduate Federal Direct Stafford Loans
• 7.048% for graduate Federal Direct Stafford Loans
• 8.048% for Federal Direct Grad PLUS Loans
• 8.048% for Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loans.

Fees

For loans where the first disbursement is made on or after Oct. 1, 2020, and before Oct 1, 2025, the loan fees for Direct Subsidized Loans and for Direct Unsubsidized Loans are 1.057% are subtracted from the borrowed amount prior to disbursement. For Direct PLUS loans this fee is 4.228%.

This fee goes to the government to help reduce the overall cost of the loans. This amount will be subtracted from each loan disbursement.

Repayment & Consolidation

To finance your college education, you may find it necessary to borrow from more than one loan source or lender, resulting in the financial burden of multiple monthly payments. After you graduate or are no longer enrolled at least half-time, you may want to consider consolidating your loans--a process by which an approved agency pays off your existing loans and creates one new loan. In some cases, loan consolidation can be a practical student debt management tool. However, consolidation is not the best option for everyone. Keep in mind that you may lose deferment privileges and pay back more in interest over time.

Loan Consolidation Basics

Federal consolidation loans allow you to reduce your monthly student loan payments by extending your repayment terms and may allow you to obtain a better, fixed interest rate. When you consolidate, your consolidation loan lender pays the outstanding balances on the loans you consolidate. In essence, you refinance your education debts.

Federal Student Loans

Consolidation is available to most borrowers of federally funded educational loans including:

• Federal Direct Stafford Loan (subsidized and unsubsidized)
• Federal Perkins Loan
• Federal Direct PLUS Loan

Federal consolidation loans have no fees. To qualify for federal loan consolidation, borrowers must:

• Be in their grace period, or currently repaying their educational loans
• Not be more than ninety days delinquent on educational loan payments.

For more information contact: Federal Direct Consolidation Loans Information Center (1-800-557-7392)

Advantages and Disadvantages of Loan Consolidation

Advantages:

• Offers a fixed interest rate.
• Reduces monthly payment by extending the loan term.
• May result in fewer bills to handle.
• May offer various repayment options available including:
  • Standard Repayment--you pay a fixed amount each month until your loan is paid in full.
  • Extended Repayment--allows you to extend loan repayment over a period of ten to thirty years, depending on your loan amount.
  • Graduated Repayment--allows you to make smaller payments at first, and larger payments later. This is a good strategy for students who cannot make large payments immediately after graduation. Payments start low and increase every few years.
  • Income Contingent Repayment--your monthly payment is based on your yearly income, family size, and loan amount. Your payments rise and fall with your income. After 25 years, any remaining balance on the loan is forgiven, however you may have to pay taxes on the amount forgiven. Payments can never exceed 20% of your discretionary income.

Most consolidation loan programs do not have prepayment penalties. Prepayment on your loan will reduce your overall interest costs by paying the loan off early.

Disadvantages

• You may lose deferment options.
• You will pay more interest over time due to the extended repayment period (unless you are able to prepay or make additional payments on your loan).
• You may lose payback benefits from current lenders (i.e., interest rate reductions for submitting on-time payments). · For more information contact: Federal Direct Consolidation Loans Information Center (1-800-557-7392)
• Loan Consolidation Agencies
• Federal Student Loans:
• At this time, the most stable consolidation option for federal student loans is through the Federal Direct Loan Program. You may also want to contact your lender or servicer to discuss other repayment options. If you do not know your lender(s), access your federal loan information through studentaid.gov

If the student does not want to take their Federal Direct Loans, they can reject them on LeopardWeb.

• Alternative lenders may require you to be in active repayment before you can apply.
• Ask private lenders about possible consolidation loan fees or other costs before you apply.
• Most lenders do not consolidate federal loans together with private loans.

To determine the interest rate, loan consolidation agencies weight the average of all the loans included in the consolidation, rounded up to the nearest 1/8 of a percent. Typically, borrowers may prepay all or part of consolidation loans at any time without penalty.

The following are lenders who currently offer alternative consolidation loans. You may also want to contact your private alternative lender, if not listed, to find out if they also offer a consolidation loan. Carefully review the terms and conditions associated with each loan program before you apply. Keep in mind that most lenders do not consolidate private loans together with federal loans.

More information about consolidating private student loans

The Federal Student Aid Ombudsman of the Department of Education helps resolve disputes and solve other problems with federal student loans. Please do not hesitate to contact them should you feel they can be of assistance.

• Student Aid Online assistance
• Telephone: (877) 557-2575
• Fax: (606) 396-4821
• Mail:

FSA Ombudsman Group
P.O. Box 1843
Monticello, KY 42633

For more information on consolidation:

• U.S. Department of Education Federal Student Aid
• You Can Deal With It
• FinAid

After exhausting all federal and family resources, some students may need to apply for an alternative student loan to pay for educational expenses. Below is a list of lenders offering private educational loans that have been utilized by 2 or more students within the past three years.

This is not a comprehensive list of all the educational loans available to you. You are not required to select one of these lenders. Inclusion on this list is not an endorsement or recommendation by Wentworth Institute of Technology. You are strongly encouraged to exhaust your federal borrowing options if eligible, (Federal Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans and PLUS loans) before you consider private loans, as the terms and conditions of federal loan programs may be more favorable than the provisions of private education loans. Each lender's loan programs may have different requirements. Be sure to check with your lender regarding the loan programs you qualify for that best suit your needs. All loans, except Federal Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized loans, are subject to credit approval.

Compare loan options from various lenders

Effective February 14th, 2010, lenders have new requirements for processing and disbursing private education loans. Check with your specific lender regarding their process (i.e. online or paper) for certification and disbursement. For your convenience, we have listed some of the requirements below. Self-Certification Form: Student borrowers are now required to complete a Self-Certification Form for each loan application they submit and return it to their lender as part of the loan application process. Each lender will likely provide you with a copy of this form; or download the form using the above link. Most lenders recommend that you use the form they provide. All Self-Certification forms should be sent to the student’s specific lender and NOT the Office of Student Financial Services. The Self-Certification form requires you to report your cost of attendance and estimated financial assistance in Section 2. Your cost of attendance and financial assistance can be found on L-connect in Leopardweb. Go to the Financial Aid tab, choose Financial Aid Status and the click on the Award tab.

1. Active Acceptance of Loan: Student borrowers are now required to “actively accept” the terms of their loan approval before their school will be notified that school certification is required. The lender’s terms for how to “accept” the loan terms can be found on the private loan approval disclosure form that they will provide to the borrower.

2. Right to Cancel: Borrowers and/or cosigners have the right to cancel or rescind a loan offer within 3 business days after receipt of Final Disclosure. During this time, the lender cannot disburse loan funds. This cancellation period cannot be waived for funds to disburse more quickly. This may cause a delay in the disbursement of loan funds to your student account. Be sure to apply several weeks before funding is needed.

   *Any loan changes to alternative loans MUST be submitted in writing via email to the Financial Aid Counselor. Changes that are not requested via email will not be processed.

Direct PLUS loans are federal loans available to help fill the gap between your educational expenses (Cost of Attendance) and your financial aid package. These are available to parents of dependent students (as defined by FAFSA) and students pursuing a graduate degree. For Graduate PLUS loans, the borrower cannot be a parent.

  Currently, loan fees of 4.228%

• Apply for a Direct PLUS loan
• Make sure you apply for the amount you need for the full academic year (fall, spring, summer.)
• Eligibility - To be eligible, you must file a FAFSA and must not have an adverse credit history.
• Interest Rate - The 2024 – 2025 Direct PLUS loans interest rate is 9.08%.
• Fees - Origination Fee: 4.228% (This fee is subtracted from the borrowed amount prior to disbursement and is assessed by the government processor).

Your Graduate Direct PLUS loan will enter repayment on the date of the last disbursement; however, your loan will be deferred as long as you are enrolled at least half-time in your degree-seeking program. During this time, your loan will accrue interest and you can opt to make interest-only payments.

Your Parent Direct PLUS loan has an optional grace period of either:

60 days after the loan is fully disbursed, or 6 months after your student is not enrolled at least half-time

During this time your loan will accrue interest and you can opt to make interest-only payments.

Learn more about repayment and loan consolidation.

Student and parent borrowers can view any federal loan information and history on studentaid.gov. Once you have logged in, you can view your Federal Aid Dashboard which shows a summary of your federal loans and grants. You can click in for more information and the name and contact information for your federal servicer. 

This site does not contain any private or third-party lending information, only federal loans.

You should check with your loan servicer as there may be delays in transferring data to the Department of Education's National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) which holds the information used on the Federal Aid Dashboard.

You can view a summary of all of your debt (including credit cards and private loans) by requesting a free credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com. You should review your report annually to make sure you are aware of, agree with, all of the debt attached to your identity. If you notice errors, the site also walks you through how to correct them.

This is a completely normal reaction to seeing your total debt for the first time. We have a number of resources to help you make a plan for handling your debt over time. You should start by reviewing some of our financial wellness resources.