<p>Mercymom, Students can choose their lender, but they cannot choose between FFELP and Direct. Schools have to have special applications in place to participate with Direct loans and many schools do not have those applications in place. The information you posted refers to FFELP loans only. </p>
<p>My institution has only three recommended lenders on our list…due to several others removing themselves from the industry. We do advise our students that they are ableto borrow from any of the 3000+ Title IV approved FFELP lenders available but that their choice could delay the receipt of their funding.</p>
<p>It was a serious mistake to put the squeeze on the non-profits…because most of those were consistently placing the students interests at the top of all decisions made. They typically offer the best repayment incentives and work more diligently to prevent students from entering default. This squeeze is having a tremendous affect on many large non-profits, such as EdAmerica, who had to temporarily halt disbursements for 3 weeks. While this doesn’t affect most traditional (semester-based) students, it has had a HUGE impact on non-term programs which start new students every week. I’ve got over $250,000 waiting to be disbursed by EdAmerica right now…almost 80 students who desperately need their funding to help purchase books.</p>