Stafford Loan

A Stafford Loan is a student loan offered to eligible students enrolled in accredited American institutions of higher education to help finance their education. The terms of the loans are described in Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (with subsequent amendments), which guarantees repayment to the lender if a student defaults.

Student loans in the U.S.
Regulatory framework
Higher Education Act of 1965
U.S. Dept. of Education · FAFSA
Cost of attendance · Expected Family Contribution
Distribution channels
Federal Direct Student Loan Program
Federal Family Education Loan Program
Loan products
Perkins · Stafford
PLUS · Consolidation Loans
Private student loans

In 1988, Congress renamed the Federal Guaranteed Student Loan program the Robert T. Stafford Student Loan program, in honor of U.S. Senator Robert Stafford, a Republican from Vermont, for his work on higher education.[1]

Because the loans are guaranteed by the full faith of the US government, they are offered at a lower interest rate than the borrower would otherwise be able to get for a private loan. On the other hand, there are strict eligibility requirements and borrowing limits on Stafford Loans.

As with other types of federal financial aid, students applying for a Stafford Loan must complete a FAFSA. Stafford Loans are available to students directly from the United States Department of Education through the Federal Direct Student Loan Program (FDSLP, also known as Direct).

No principal payments are expected on the loan while the student is in school enrolled at least half-time, referred to as in-school deferment. Deferment of repayment continues for six months after the student leaves school by graduating, dropping below half-time enrollment, or withdrawing, referred to as the grace period.

Stafford Loans are available both as subsidized and unsubsidized loans. Subsidized loans are offered to students based on demonstrated financial need. (See Expected Family Contribution.) The interest on subsidized loans is paid by the federal government while the student is in school and during authorized deferment. For unsubsidized Stafford Loans, students are responsible for all of the interest that accrues while the student is enrolled in school. The interest may be deferred throughout enrollment. Unpaid interest that is deferred until after graduation is capitalized (added to the loan principal).

The Budget Control Act of 2011 eliminated subsidized Stafford loans for graduate and professional students effective July 1, 2012.[2] Unsubsidized Stafford loans are still available to these students.

Interest rates

Interest rates on Stafford Loans may vary and are determined based upon the date the loan was disbursed. They may also vary by the education level (undergraduate or graduate) of the student. Interest rates do not vary with default risk: all students receive the same interest rate regardless of their major or their future employment prospects.[3]

For variable rate loans, the rates are set annually using the price of the 91-day Treasury bill on the last Monday of May, and become effective for the following year on July 1. For fiscal year 2008-2009, the 91-day Treasury bill auctioned on May 27, 2008 at 1.905% (rounded to 1.91%) was used for the calculation.[4] On May 26, 2009 the 91-day Treasury bill was auctioned at an investment rate of 0.178%.[5] On July 1, 2009, the base rate for variable rate Stafford Loans were adjusted to 0.18%. Loans issued before July 1, 1998 were adjusted to a rate of 3.28%. Loans issued between July 1, 1998 and June 30, 2006 were adjusted to a rate of 2.48%.

As of June 16, 2020, all Stafford Loans are issued with a fixed interest rate. For direct loans and most loan providers, the rate is currently set at 6.6% for unsubsidized loans, with lower rates for subsidized loans for undergraduates, usually about 5.05%.[6]

On August 9, 2013, President Obama signed the Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act of 2013, changing how student loan interest rates are determined. The bill links student loan rates to the Federal 10-year Treasury rate, plus a small margin. The new rates are retroactive for all loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2013. That effectively reversed an increase in interest rate from 3.40% to 6.80% for affected loans. Federal student loan interest rates are fixed for the life of the loan; however, the rates for new loans will change annually, based on the current market. The interest rates for the 2013-2014 academic year are as follows: 3.86% for undergraduate Stafford Loans (both subsidized and unsubsidized) 5.41% for graduate Stafford Loans[7]

gollark: Apparently the new skynet3™ code works perfectly until ??? happens if I try and connect a bunch of websockets to it at the same time, at which point it irrecoverably deadlocks or something.
gollark: Each half acted basically independently, but then rationalized whatever the other half did.
gollark: This turned out to actually be quite a bad idea.
gollark: There *were* people who had their corpus callopsum cut as an epilepsy treatment.
gollark: Except GTech™ nondestructive neural scanners, you mean. We use them instead of hiring people to save money.

See also

References
  1. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (24 Dec 2006). "Robert T. Stafford, 93, Former Vermont Senator and Governor, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 Nov 2018.
  2. Katy Hopkins (13 Mar 2012). "Grad Students to Lose Federal Loan Subsidy". US News and World Report. Retrieved 12 Nov 2018.
  3. "Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans". Federal Student Aid. 2019-11-13. Retrieved 2020-06-16.
  4. "Student Aid on the Web". Archived from the original on 2008-04-10. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  5. "Institutional - 2009 Treasury Securities Auction Press Releases: 13-week Bills". Archived from the original on 2009-05-12. Retrieved 2009-05-27.
  6. "Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans". Federal Student Aid. 2019-11-13. Retrieved 2020-06-16.
  7. "Stafford Loan Interest Rates". Student loan network. Archived from the original on 4 September 2009. Retrieved 12 Nov 2018.


Financial Aid at Curlie

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.