<p>The loan information says that repayment begins after graduation or six months after the student stops attending school at least half-time.</p>
<p>I will be unable to take classes at all this fall semester, but I will be going back to school in the spring. Including summer, it will be just about six months with no school. Is repayment likely to begin on my loans?</p>
<p>Call the holder of your loans. </p>
<p>Be sure to apply for your Spring classes as early as possible!</p>
<p>I am planning on it, but I was hoping someone here also had a personal experience.</p>
<p>I don't think I'm worried. Spring semester ended June 8th, spring semester starts January 9th. Are they really that callous...? Better not answer that myself.</p>
<p>undecided, </p>
<pre><code> As long as you sign up for full time status for the Spring 2007 before January, then you are alright. For example, if you can sign up in November or before December 8th, then I figure you would be in the clear.
Articulate that to the Registrar of your school after you sign up for the Spring 2007 Semester.
I figure it would be your own personal call with regards to calling the Holder of your loans. As long as you get your name in the pot for full time status before that six month period is up.
</code></pre>
<p>Conditions of a government guaranteed loan are proscribed by law. Lender can not deviate from conditions. All conditions are described in your master promissory note, which can be downloaded from all lenders with the blank application or online application. Your local comunity college would have a paper form, likewise you can request a form be mailed to you from your local bank, credit union, or other financial institution/including your college-they are all the same except for the name of lender. Of course checking with your lender may help you understand the conditions.</p>
<p>Your risk here is that once you use your grace period on a loan, you can never use it again. Example, if your Stafford expires its 6 month grace, when you next finish your program, you will go into immediate repayment (of course, you can ask for forbearance if you are unemployed).</p>
<p>It is CRUCIALLY important that you stay on top of this, that you OWN this. Otherwise, really nasty stuff can happen (default, credit bureau reporting, etc). The problem here is that no school will call you enrolled until you really are enrolled, so signing up for classes early won't work. You need to wait until you actually start classes in January before anyone will certify you as enrolled.</p>
<p>Also, most of us use a computer-based system to check enrollments these days; mostly gone are paper deferment forms. In your case, though, where the dates are so close, I would advise getting a paper form from your lender, taking it to the school, sitting with them while they complete it and fax it, and keeping a copy for yourself.</p>
<p>"It is CRUCIALLY important that you stay on top of this, that you OWN this. Otherwise, really nasty stuff can happen (default, credit bureau reporting, etc). The problem here is that no school will call you enrolled until you really are enrolled, so signing up for classes early won't work. You need to wait until you actually start classes in January before anyone will certify you as enrolled."</p>
<p>The rules for that totally differ from school to school. I am an example of that as are a fair amount of other folks. </p>
<p>"Your risk here is that once you use your grace period on a loan, you can never use it again. Example, if your Stafford expires its 6 month grace, when you next finish your program, you will go into immediate repayment (of course, you can ask for forbearance if you are unemployed)."</p>
<p>This is a super important thing which I am sure a lot of people, including myself, surely did not know at all.</p>
<p>Just to clarify on the 2nd point, the grace on THAT LOAN will never occur again. You can get a grace period on any new loan you borrow for that new term of enrollment.</p>
<p>And really, merlin? They would call you enrolled? Strange, since we are very careful about pre-certifying enrollment. People can change their mind up to the last minute with no penalty...</p>
<p>"And really, merlin? They would call you enrolled? Strange, since we are very careful about pre-certifying enrollment. People can change their mind up to the last minute with no penalty..."</p>
<p>I do not attend MIT. One could infer that from the fact that I live in Memphis, Tn:) Just joshing. Really, I am just joshing. </p>
<p>Sorry. </p>
<p>Remember, the rules are different at different schools with regards to certain things. </p>
<p>But, in the South things are different a bit. Just like how they are different at MIT, right?</p>
<p>I am very glad you are on this site, B. What you knew about the loans was really informative information that I never heard before! </p>
<p>I wonder if undecided is ill? Could they obtain some sort of short term deferment?</p>
<p>I certainly agree that the rules can be different at different schools.</p>
<p>I should give a little bit of my background, so you don't think I have only ever been at MIT (smiles).</p>
<p>I have worked in the financial aid / student finance industry for about 17 years, first at Key Bank (when it was run as Knight Tuition Payment Plans as a Student and Parent Loans Account Manager), then at Boston College (as an Assistant Director of Financial Aid), at the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority (as Director of Operations for their Parent Loan Program), then at Lasell College (small, LAC in Newton, MA), as a technical consultant for financial aid offices around the country, then at Simmons College as Assoc Dir of Student Financial Services, and finally, for the last 4 years, as Director of Student Financial Aid at MIT. </p>
<p>As for the South, I spent my high school years in Charleston, SC, although I was born in the Panama Canal Zone (in Central America). I've been in Boston since college (I attended Brandeis and Northeastern as undergrads - I transferred, and Boston University for graduate school).</p>
<p>Anyway, jsut thought it might be helpful to know my background.</p>
<p>And I do feel welcome on the site, merlin. I worry that a lot of this information may be not correct that people pass around to each other which is why I decided to join in. I have tried to convince my colleagues to come and be a part of this as well, but so far not many takers...</p>
<p>And, I can take a joke!! ;)</p>
<p>Oh, if undecided is ill, he does need to contact the lender directly. Most likely they will still run out his grace period first, but they will probably set him up for an immediate hardship forbearance right after...</p>
<p>undecided is not ill so much as she is suffering from a case of bad finances, ironically enough. My schooling thing is complicated, but suffice to say I have a couple lenders from two schools, soon to be a third (the one I'll be starting at in the spring).</p>
<p>Things just worked out poorly for me to be able to attend classes in the fall and my family needs me at home, so home is where I shall be.</p>
<p>Thank you for your responses, they have been very informative. I'm not surprised that things vary by school, and I'm not surprised I need to contact my lenders/schools directly to discuss this; I just wanted to make sure I wasn't making a mountain out of a molehill.</p>
<p>Might be worth it to find some way to take some useless classes online this fall just to keep half-time...</p>
<p>ETA: May as well be specific. :) Have attended and received loans from UCSC and Riverside Community College, all currently subsidized federal loans. Will be starting at Cal in the spring with a variety of loans -- subsidized, unsubsidized, PLUS. I do qualify for the Board of Governor's Fee Waiver program, method C, which in layman's terms means my CC course fees are waived. The financial problem is not that so much as it is getting to school, since the nearest one is 25 miles away and the one I last attended is 40.</p>
<p>If you have already completed 5 years of the stafford loan program, you should really investigate doing a consolidation. Each school's loan can be consolidated together or separately. Again, Federal regulations and uniform between lenders, there may be differences in interest rate incentives for on time payments.</p>
<p>I wouldnt take "useless" classes, but I believe if you are attending school at least part time- then your loans can still be in deferment
Additionally, many, many colleges offer online courses, if distance is a concern</p>
<p>I have only been matriculated in post-HS education (yes, I have to be that specific) for 2 years. I graduated in 2004. So really, I only have two sets of loans. I don't think consolidation is going to help me just yet. Maybe next year.</p>
<p>When I said I was going to take "useless" classes, it was because RCC -- where I have a fee waiver -- does not have a general education agreement with Cal, so none of the classes I take there are strictly useful. However, I know Foothill has several of the classes I could use, and so I will look and see if I can't get the BOGW there. Problem is that it doesn't appear every campus uses method C, which is the only way I qualify. Oh well -- more phone calls for me!</p>
<p>I agree with most posts on this conversation - you are responsible for knowing "what day" your school reported that you were no longer enrolled - you can find this out by checking the National Student Clearninghouse <a href="http://www.nslds.ed.gov%5B/url%5D">www.nslds.ed.gov</a> - this date will show your lender when your grace period would begin on.</p>
<p>If you are going to be out of school longer than 6 months, be sure to contact your lender. Most lenders (I know - I work with one) - are pretty lenient about granting a small forbearance until your "in school status" is retained. </p>
<p>Also - once you re-enroll in classes for Spring, see if you can get your school to sign an "in-school deferment form" - and send that to your lender as soon as possible, this will avoid any reporting errors or lag-time in your school's reporting to the National Clearinghouse.</p>
<p>We get many calls like this - and it is good that you are being proactive now vs. waiting until it effects your credit score!</p>
<p>undecided: I am glad you are not ill:) Also, BYU online has some sweet courses.</p>
<p>And, if you wind up taking some things at a school which acknowledges your waiver, you could think ahead.
Like, if you are going to go on to grad school later on, then you could take a Logic for practice on the GRE or something?
Or you could take two online classes "for resume purposes", a little MS Office type of thing or what have you. </p>
<p>good luck.</p>
<p>I feel silly -- I knew about NSLDS! I've been there, and yet I did not know that it would tell me when my loans would begin repayment until I just went there now and followed a couple links. <em>coughs</em></p>
<p>Curious information there, though; my most recent loan is due to begin repayment on December 10th, but my oldest loan doesn't begin repayment until March 2009. I imagine that all has to do with schedules -- my first loan was taken with a projected graduation date in 2008, my last at a CC which I suppose doesn't much care about projected graduation dates.</p>
<p>Well, the simple matter is that I DO have a couple more classes I can take and I was lucky enough to find a campus that offers most of them online. As for thinking ahead? Been doing that. It's a little difficult sometimes since I have no idea what it is I want to do, but I know that there's a particular history class that covers the "knowledge of the Constitution" requirement for teacher credentials at Cal whose equivalent I can be taking this fall.</p>
<p>So I went from having 0 units and contemplating taking classes for no reason to having 17 very purposeful units. In any case, assuming I can get this to work, my loan problem is solved, but I am still glad that I asked. I don't think I'm the only person who's ever had this problem.</p>
<p>Thank you all so much for your very prompt and informative responses!</p>