<p>Do you have to do anything like sign contracts or whatever to use the federal loan they have in your financial aid package? I am terrible with anything money related so i really dont understand how the loans work.</p>
<p>You have to sign a Master Promissory Note (MPN). The FA office will give you instructions on where to access the form (for Stafford/Perkins loans). Read the MPN carefully. It describes the terms of your loan.</p>
<p>when do i get this?</p>
<p>an email i got from the financial aid department:</p>
<p>“You will need to sign the MPN (<a href=“http://dlenote.ed.gov%5B/url%5D”>http://dlenote.ed.gov</a>) and complete the required Entrance Counseling Session ([WWW.DL.ED.GOV</a> redirect page](<a href=“http://www.dlssonline.com%5DWWW.DL.ED.GOV”>http://www.dlssonline.com)) in order to accept your federal direct loan. If you are looking to request the maximum amount available to you, you will also need to be sure to submit the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Request form also available on our website mentioned above.”</p>
<p>any idea when i should have that done by?</p>
<p>It needs to be done before your loan can be disbursed so I would complete it ASAP.</p>
<p>ok. well i never received that email… so i’m kind of confused.</p>
<p>i dont think i have a final financial aid package yet, its still listed as “pending”. should i still do it?</p>
<p>yes, you should.
the dept. didn’t send it as a mass email, i emailed asking what my next steps should be and they said to sign the MPN.
i did mine around 2 weeks ago and although my status still says ‘pending,’ the grant has been applied to my fall tuition.</p>
<p>ok. this MPN looks like its only for federal direct loans. is there something for the perkins loan too? i looked on the financial aid site, and they linked me to a different MPN for the perkins loan, but when i tried filling it out, it said i don’t have an open promissory note available.</p>
<p>call or email financial aid. I have always found them to be very helpful.</p>
<p>when do you get the perkins promissory note? Before admisisons or after admissions?</p>
<p>The financial aid was very confusing for our family. The financial aid office helped us a lot with all of our questions as we learned about the system.</p>