Loan Process

In addition to accepting loans as part of your financial aid award, first-time loan borrowers have additional processes that need to be completed in order to have loan funds available.

PROMISSORY NOTES
The promissory note is a legal document. It is your promise to use the money for educational purposes and to repay the loan. A borrower completes the appropriate promissory note for each loan program they accept through the online award process. PROMISSORY NOTES SHOULD NOT BE COMPLETED PRIOR TO ACCEPTING THE LOAN FUNDS ON THE AWARD OFFER.

• Federal Perkins, Nursing or Health Professions Loan:  These promissory notes can be completed online once the loan has been accepted. Students may eSign using their U.S. Department of Education PIN, or they can print, sign, and mail a paper promissory note from the Website.  Please select your awarded loan program to complete the appropriate promissory note:
  • Federal Perkins Loan
  • Nursing Student Loan
  • Health Professions Student Loan
• Federal Stafford Loan:  Promissory notes can be completed online after accepting the loan. Paper promissory notes will be sent from Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation beginning in mid-June to all new borrowers who do not complete the online note and have accepted their loan.
• Federal Graduate PLUS Loan:  Graduate student borrower is required to pass credit check.  The promissory note process is stand-alone now though will be integrated into the award offer in the future.
• Federal Parent PLUS Loan:  Parents are the borrower and, when accepting the PLUS Loan online, will be automatically routed to complete the required credit check. Once approved, the parent can also complete the online promissory note. Parents choosing not to complete the online note can print a paper one or have one mailed to them. 

UC and Great Lakes have a strong relationship to provide you the best possible service. Do not complete Stafford or PLUS promissory notes with individual lenders. Going outside of the above process can require paperwork to be redone or unnecessary difficulties when receiving loan funds each term.

LENDER CHOICE
The borrower must designate a lender when completing a Stafford or PLUS Loan promissory note. UC works closely with Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation to ensure smooth processing and delivery of loan funds. Therefore, it is highly desirable for your lender choice to also be a lender serviced by Great Lakes to ensure automated funds transfer each term.

The federal educational loan programs have the same terms from lender to lender. However, individual lending agencies provide slightly different up front benefits and repayment premiums for choosing them and meeting specified requirements. Many borrowers choose a lender with whom they are familiar while other borrowers want to compare these borrower benefits.

As you are determining your lender, you may elect to choose one of the lenders used last year by UC student and parent borrowers. Borrowers who choose a lender not listed should request that lender's Great Lakes servicing lender ID for use on the promissory note. Again, Great Lakes servicing significantly eases the quarterly delivery of your loan monies.

LOAN ENTRANCE COUNSELING
First-time UC Stafford Loan borrowers also must receive detailed information on the responsibilities of taking out an educational loan prior to the arrival of loan funds. A 15-20 minute online loan counseling session completes this requirement. If this federal requirement is not met, loan monies received for the student must be returned to the lender.

To assist students meet this requirement, borrowers completing the online Stafford MPN will be routed to complete loan counseling as part of the MPN process if Great Lakes does not already have record of loan counseling completion.

LOAN ARRIVAL
Perkins, Nursing, and Health Professions Loans will appear on your eBill following the completion of the promissory note. Stafford and PLUS Loans will arrive approximately 10 days prior to the start of each term.

Loan estimates will appear on eBills until loan arrival.  Borrowers must ensure they have completed loan counseling and promissory notes in order to make these estimates a reality. Students must also be in good academic standing and be registered for at least 6 hours (or co-op) to be eligible for their loan funds for the term.

Federal loans all use Master Promissory Notes (MPNs). These open-ended loan documents allow multiple year borrowing for that individual loan program.

If a Master Promissory Note has a disbursed loan attached to it within a year of signing by the borrower, it is then active for 10 years of borrowing. This makes the aid process much easier in subsequent years.

Remember, while the promissory note allows for multiple years, the FAFSA must be completed each year as soon after January 1 as possible.