What Are Financial Aid Officers Saying About The Move To Direct Lending?

• If you waited until the last minute...this isn't good news (from the Spartanburg Herald Journal):  "With about five federal agencies expected to handle the flood of communication that will come with the "mass exodus" of schools leaving their private lenders, Sullivan [Allison Sullivan, director of financial aid at the University of South Carolina Upstate] said she was told by the Department of Education that financial aid offices like hers will be provided a list of 800 numbers, and that "it could be 10 days before anyone gets back to us."  But by starting the process early, Sullivan said "we'll be prepared for it."

• Someone likes the increase in Pell Grants (from Newark Star-Ledger):  "I’m very much in favor of the bill," said Jean McDonald-Rash, financial aid director at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. "Moving money into grant aid, which doesn’t have to be paid back, is a positive for students."

• Roanoke College preparing for move to Direct Lending (from Roanoke Times):  "At Roanoke College, financial aid workers will soon be in the midst of a transition that will include "some bumps in the road, but nothing we can't overcome," Financial Aid Director Tommy Blair said.

  "We have regrets, I guess, but those regrets are specifically related to the associations we've had with some specific lenders," Blair said. "We've had a long-standing, very effective working relationship with those folks." Roanoke College has long dealt with local banks that include Wachovia and SunTrust.  But in the end, he said, "I'm pleased we are no longer going to be running two redundant programs."

• Ole Miss expects additional grant aid from the bill and has been gearing up for the DL transition since fall (University of Mississippi Financial Aid Director Laura Diven-Brown interviewed by Daily Journal):  "At Ole Miss, the expectation is that there will be more financial aid available because Pell will increase. The direct loan program conversion is a processing change that will not impact the amount of loan money available. At this time, how easy it will be for students and parents to process through direct loans as compared to Federal Family Education Loan Program at our school is unknown, but we have been preparing for the conversion since mid-fall, so hopefully things will go smoothly."

• Here is how one financial aid director described the changes that they were preparing their students for (from KFYR):  "What will happen, for all the students that start this fall, they will have to go out and get new promissory notes, new loan counseling, and get back to the Department of Education so we can process that," says Dale Gehring, Minot State University Financial Aid Director...Universities like Minot State University find themselves in a scramble; shipping files back and fourth to the Department of Education, and making sure their system is up and accurate in a timely manner.  "Students funding will be there, just a little bit of difference in that we have to take, and it might require them to do a little more work on there end. Rework some things they already have in place like promissory notes, loan counseling, ect," says Gehring."

• Many didn't wait for Direct Lending to become the law of the land before making the switch (from Washington Times): 
• • "Rebecca Sanchez, financial-aid director at California Baptist University in Riverside, Calif., said the private Christian school in an anticipatory move shifted its lending program from Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFEL) to Direct Loan - linked directly to the Education Department - even before it was mandated by the government.

    "We felt it was the best decision to be pre-emptive," Mrs. Sanchez said. "We were anticipating that it was going to be mandated because it has strong Democratic support."

  • From Omaha World Herald:  "That will mean a few minor changes at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, where about 7,000 students have been using the system that's on the chopping block. The school already had made the decision to transition to direct lending before the legislation passed, said Randy Sell, UNO director of financial aid.