Student loans fall into two categories: Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) and Direct Loans (William D. Ford Direct Loan Program). Loans that disbursed at San Jac prior to the Summer 2010 term are FFEL. Under FFEL, the lender is a financial institution such as a bank or credit union. Loans that disbursed at San Jac during the Summer 2010 term and later are Direct Loans. With a Direct Loan, the lender is the Federal Government.
As a student loan borrower it is important for you to understand your rights and responsibilities.
It is your right to have a grace period, to prepay your loan without penalty, to request a copy of your MPN, to request documentation that your loan is paid in full, to choose a repayment plan, to be informed of your repayment date, and to be informed of and provide consent of any changes in the terms of your loan.
It is your responsibility to complete an exit counseling session, to repay your loan, to notify your lender with current contact information, to make timely monthly payments, to notify your lender of your eligibility of a deferment or cancellation of loan and/or payments, to use proceeds of loans for educationally related purposes, and to make payment even if you do not receive a payment statement. If you're not sure where to begin on your budget, use the following budget calculator.
As a student loan recipient, you are required to complete an exit counseling session. Exit counseling helps you to understand your rights and responsibilities as a student loan borrower. Exit counseling is required when you graduate, drop below a half-time (6 hours) enrollment status, withdraw from all of your classes, stop attending, or transfer to another school.
You may complete your exit counseling session online at studentaid.gov San Jac will be notified electronically when you have successfully completed the online Exit Counseling Session.
A hold will be placed on your San Jac student account if you do not complete an exit counseling session. This may affect your ability to make changes to your registration or request a transcript.
Federal Student Loans:
San Jacinto College has partnered with the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) to provide enrollment and degree verification to the United States Department of Education (USDE) regarding your federal student loans. You must be enrolled for at least six hours for your federal student loans to be placed in a student deferment. The enrollment information will be sent electronically to the NSC two weeks after the term has started. Once the electronic file is processed, it will take 30 days for your account to be updated. The USDE will backdate your account to the start date of the term and waive all past due payments and accrued interest. If you have any questions, please call Elena Olivier, Default Loan Coordinator at (281) 991-2645.
Federal PLUS Loan (parents who take out loans for their children):
Your child must be enrolled for at least six hours at San Jacinto College for you (the parent) to be eligible for a deferment on your PLUS loan. You must call the federal loan servicer and place a request to have the PLUS loan placed in a deferred status. The deferred status does not occur automatically. If you have any questions, please call Elena Olivier, Default Loan Coordinator at (281) 991-2645.
Private Loan:
Private Loan lenders cannot obtain the enrollment information from the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC). You may have your student deferment or forbearance form completed by faxing to (281) 669- 4374 or emailed to Elena Olivier, Default Loan Coordinator at elena.olivier@sjcd.edu. This form cannot be completed until two weeks after the term has started. If you have any questions, please call Elena Olivier, Default Loan Coordinator at (281) 991-2645.
After you graduate, leave school, or drop below a half-time (6 hours) enrollment status, your loan(s) enters a grace period. This one time grace period lasts for six months. Your repayment period begins the day after your grace period ends. Your first payment will be due once your repayment period begins.
Your loan servicer will notify you with information about repayment. When it comes to repaying your student loans, you can select a repayment plan that is right for your financial situation. Generally, you'll have from 10 to 25 years to repay your loans.
We have provided a sample repayment plan. Use this sample to compare how your repayment options might look. Or, if you'd like to calculate your estimated loan payments use the calculators available through Federal Student Aid or Finaid.org. Repayment plans are briefly described below. Please click on the repayment plan name to view more details about your options.
With the standard plan, you'll pay a fixed amount each month until your loans are paid in full. Your monthly payments will be at least $50, and you'll have up to 10 years to repay your loans.
With this plan, your payments start out low and increase every two years. The length of your repayment period will be up to ten years.
Under the extended plan, you'll pay a fixed annual or graduated repayment amount over a period not to exceed 25 years. You must have more than $30,000 in FFEL or Direct Loan debt to qualify. Your fixed monthly payment is lower than it would be under the standard plan, but you'll ultimately pay more for your loan because of the interest that accumulates during the longer repayment period.
Under IBR, the required monthly payment is capped at an amount that is intended to be affordable based on income and family size. You must submit annual income documentation to set your payment amount each year. Under this plan, loans can be forgiven for certain situations.
Income Contingent Repayment (ICR) (Direct Loans only)
Under this plan, your payment is calculated annually based on your household adjusted gross income, family size, and the total amount of your Direct Loans.
Income-Sensitive Repayment Plan (FFEL Loans Only)
With an income-sensitive plan, your monthly loan payment is based on your annual income. As your income increases or decreases, so do your payments. The maximum repayment period is 10 years.
Pay As You Earn Repayment Plan (PAYE)
Under PAYE, your payments are generally 10 percent of your discretionary income, but never more than the 10-year Standard Repayment Plan amount. Payments are recalculated annually based on income and family size.
Revised Pay As You Earn Repayment Plan (REPAYE)
Under REPAYE, your payments are generally 10 percent of your discretionary income. Your payment can be more than the 10-year Standard Repayment Plan amount. Payments are recalculated annually based on income and family size.
Under this program, you could combine all of your student loans under one lender and one monthly payment. A consolidated loan can reduce monthly payments; however, the interest rate could increase and your repayment period may be extended.
Contact your loan servicer if you cannot make payments. Your loan servicer will work with you to determine the best option for you. You may also call our Default Prevention Coordinator at 281-991-2645 for assistance with your servicer and your current situation.
Your options include:
Finding a repayment plan that works for you. Please visit our Repaying Your Loans menu for a full list of repayment options.
Postponing your payments through deferment if certain conditions are met. Deferment suspends payments and the interest from accruing on your subsidized student loan. View this loan deferment chart for a complete listing of deferment options.
Postponing your payments through forbearance if you do not meet conditions for a deferment. Your loan servicer can temporarily postpone payments on your student loan for a certain period of time; however, interest continues to accrue on your student loan.
Cancelling all or part your loan if you meet certain conditions. Visit Federal Student Aid for more information on loan discharge or cancellation options.
Delinquency
If you stop making payments on your student loan, your account will become delinquent. A delinquent loan can result in late fees, affect your credit, and result in a hold on your San Jac student account.
We have some tips to help you manage your money wisely and be a responsible student borrower: create a spending budget, remember that loan payments are fixed payments just like your rent, credit cards and store charge cards are loans too, read all of your mail and e-mail, set up an online account with your lender/servicer - many provide automatic notification options and apps for smartphones.
Certain education costs can be used as tax benefits. You can also use your student loan interest as a deduction. Tuition and fees can be deducted too. Visit the IRS web site for more information.
If you're not sure where to begin on planning your budget, visit Federal Student Aid Budgeting for help.
A student loan will go into default when you fail to make payments and your account is 270 days delinquent. Once the loan is considered in default, the entire balance (principal, interest, and collection fees) is immediately due and payable.
If you default, it means you failed to make payments on your student loan according to the terms of your promissory note, the binding legal document you signed at the time you took out your loan. In other words, you failed to make your loan payments as scheduled. Your school, the financial institution that made or owns your loan, your loan guarantor, and the federal government all can take action to recover the money you owe. Here are some consequences of default:
•National credit bureaus can be notified of your default, which will harm your credit rating, making it hard to buy a car or a house.
•You will be ineligible for additional federal student aid if you decide to return to school.
•Loan payments can be deducted from your paycheck.
•State and federal income tax refunds can be withheld and applied toward the amount you owe.
•You will have to pay late fees and collection costs on top of what you already owe
•You can be sued.
Options after Default
You have three options to remove the default status: paying the loan in full, rehabilitation or consolidation. You can pay your loan in full. This is the fastest way to resolve your defaulted loan status. You can rehabilitate a loan by making 9 voluntary, consecutive monthly payments on time. During rehabilitation, you can regain eligibility for financial aid after making 6 voluntary, consecutive monthly payments on time. You can consolidate by combining all your federal education loans. Consolidating is an option as long as the loans are currently in a grace period or repayment status. Click here to learn more about consolidation.
If you are a loan borrower with defaulted federal education debt, please visit myeddebt.ed.gov. This site is a centralized location for any information or activities related to defaulted education debt for the U.S. Department of Education.
Please use these resources to find out more information on your student loan.
SJC Default Prevention Coordinator
Elena Olivier
elena.olivier@sjcd.edu
Phone 281.991.2645
Fax 281.669.4374
FedLoan Servicing
1.800.699.2908
Great Lakes Educational Loan Services
1.800.236.4300
Navient
1.888.272.5543
Nelnet Education Planning and Financing
1.888.486.4722
Trellis (formerly Texas Guaranteed or TG)
Student Loan Ombudsman's Office
MyEDDebt.gov (Federal Student Aid's web site related to information about and activities of defaulted federal student loans)
The U. S. Department of Education releases official cohort default rates (CDR) electronically to all schools. Cohort default rate sanctions and benefits provide an incentive to schools to work with their borrowers to reduce default. Also, sanctions can prevent a school from continuing to participate in federal financial aid programs.
San Jacinto College continually works with students on options to assist in repaying and retiring their student loan debt to the United States Department of Education. Loan default rates can indicate how well SJC is helping students afford to attend college without undue reliance on loans, particularly unsubsidized loans. This can indicate future earnings and career potentials for our students. Pay close attention to the statistics as you do not want to take out loans you cannot pay back.
A student is in default on a federal student loan if they have not made a payment in more than 270 days. The official student loan default rate for a school is calculated by measuring how many students are in default three years after they have graduated or stop attending SJC. Note that the default rate only considers federal loans, not private and/or state student loans.
A total of 1,223 SJC students entered loan repayment in 2018. After three years in repayment status, 10.1% of these students (124 out of 1,223) defaulted on their federal student loans. FY 2018 covers a three year repayment period of 10-01-2017 to 09-30-2020.
Below are the most recent three-year cohort default rates.
|
Year |
# of Borrowers |
SJC Cohort Default Rate |
National Cohort Default Rate |
|
FY 2018 |
1223 |
10.1 |
7.3 |
|
FY 2017 |
1334 |
11.2 |
9.7 |
|
FY 2016 |
1374 |
5.9 |
10.1 |