<p>Is it common for the Department of Education to be <em>extremely</em> slow in reporting PLUS loan credit checks to universities? My mother received a letter notifying her that she had been denied, and that I was eligible for the additional unsub. loan (yes, she did check the appropriate box on the application). This letter came <em>months</em> ago.</p>
<p>Around a month and a half ago, I called my school's financial aid office and asked why the status for the credit check was still listed as 'pending' in my Student Center. They said they haven't received the information from the Department of Education, and that it would take about two weeks. Two weeks pass, I call again and get the same answer. Now, another two weeks later, and nothing's changed.</p>
<p>Classes start very soon, and I'm still without the additional loan I need. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to take out university-provided loans, just because my mom's credit check hasn't, for some reason, gotten through to the university. Also, I'm afraid I'm going to have to pay a bunch of late fees for something that I have zero control over.</p>
<p>Has anybody gone through this before? How do I try and fix this? I'm going to call Direct Loan Applicant Services and ask them what the hell is taking so long. Is that the right place to call?</p>
<p>An update. Just got off the phone with the Department of Education. They said that they sent the information to the university in June and that I need to tell the financial aid office to contact their COD representative, because the university has obviously overlooked or misplaced the information.</p>
<p>How aggravating for you! I suggest that you write down who you spoke with when. It gives you more clout if you can say "I spoke with Cleo Anthony of Dept of Education and she said . . . " </p>
<p>It is hard to keep good phone records when there are all those telephone trees (push 5 to repeat this message; push 4 to . . .) but being able to reel off names and dates and contact numbers can really make you sound like a force to be reckoned with (and it sounds like you are! Good persistence!). </p>
<p>If this doesn’t resolve tomorrow, tell your fin aid office that your next step is to go camp on the door step of the college president with your (well documented) complaint. And do it. Many people are too shy or too nice to do something that bold – but firm, unrelenting pressure can clear the air and carry the day.
Good luck.</p>
<p>Many schools are not aware of the PLUS loan rejection leading to an additional Unsub. Stafford loan of $4K…need to proactively get them to contact the Dept. of Ed. for guidance in case they need it…</p>
<p>It only leads to additional unsub if the student requests it, perilous. No request, no additional unsub … they can’t just hand it out without being properly asked.</p>
<p>Maybe that is why DylanH doesn’t have his additional unsub. Did you fill out a loan revision request for the additional unsub? You are already offered and have accepted unsub, correct? In order to increase it, you will need to fill out a form requesting it. My school has this as part of our paper parent PLUS application … not all schools do it this way, though. It is possible that the school has decided it will not use the check box on the electronic PLUS app for the additional unsub. You might want to check the school’s financial aid website to find out.</p>
<p>We don’t use the electronic PLUS app at all - parents have told us they filled it out & were denied - not sure how, since if you try to put our school name on the online app, it tells you that we don’t participate.</p>