Direct Loans

Direct Loans is your best (and only) source for low-interest loans for students and parents to help pay for the cost of a student’s education after high school.

The lender is the U.S. Department of Education rather than a bank or other financial institution. They will handle the processing of your federal Stafford and Plus loans.

With Direct Loans, you

• Borrow directly from the federal government and have a single contact-the Direct Loan Servicing Center—for everything related to the repayment of your loans, even if you receive Direct Loans at different schools.

• Have online access to your Direct Loan account information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at Direct Loans on the Web at: www.dl.ed.gov

• Can choose from several repayment plans that are designed to meet the needs of almost any borrower, and you can switch repayment plans if your needs change.

Ken’s Tip – The Direct Loan program is the only source for any federal Stafford loans or Plus loans. Recent changes to federal law have eliminated all private lenders from participating in what was known as the Federal Family Education Loan Program or FFELP. Lenders like Sallie Mae and Citibank were major providers for the federal loan program and would facilitate and fund Stafford and Parent Plus requests, but that is no longer the case.

See this article at Fast Web for more details.

From now on Direct Loans will be the only source for federal Stafford loans and Plus loans. If you are a new or continuing student looking to use one of these loans to help pay tuition, make sure you register online and complete the required documentation so the funding can be sent to your school when tuition is due. Failure to complete the requirements will result in no disbursal of your loan.