Financial Aid Online
Students may view their financial aid information here.

Student Loans Remain Accessible
Despite our nation's recent economic downturn, Tulane's University Financial Aid Office has not witnessed a severe impact on Tulane students' and their family's ability to access student (and/or parent) loan products for assistance in educational financing. Leading analysts of the student loan industry continue to express confidence that federal student loan programs will remain available and accessible for the foreseeable future. Major lenders and banks, including those often selected by Tulane student borrowers, continue to participate in the Federal Family Education Loan Programs (FFELP), thus access to federal student loans remains unhindered. 

Tulane's University Financial Aid Office continues to closely monitor the student loan industry and the economy's impact on the lending environment.  Tulane maintains continuous communication with various student loan lenders for confirmation and assurance of their commitment to continue participation in the FFELP programs, and thus provide financial options for our students. During the past year some lending agencies and banks have opted to discontinue participation in the federal student loan programs. When prominent lenders elect to exit from the federal loan programs, Tulane quickly responds by notifying impacted borrowers of their lender's decision and providing instructions for selecting a new lender still participating in the federal loan programs. Such diligence basically assures no interruption in a student's access to necessary federal loan programs.

While access to federal loan programs remains intact, lenders offering non-federal, private educational loans are already starting to adopt more stringent approval procedures.  Since non-federal educational loans are not protected by federal government guarantees (in cases of default), lenders of such loans are implementing stricter credit approval criteria. Not only is there evidence of the enforcement of tighter credit credentials for private loan programs, but also certain lenders are not accepting any new applications. Students and families seeking to borrow non-federal, private education loans are advised: 1) that the number of lenders offering non-federal private educational loan programs is dwindling; and 2) that those lenders still offering non-federal, private loans will most likely be using more stringent credit criteria for determining approval.

Tulane encourages borrowers to consider all federal loan options (including the Federal Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students, PLUS) in lieu of non-federal, private loans. The terms of federal loans are generally more favorable. Parents can get federal student The Federal PLUS may be made for an amount up to the Cost of Attendance less other financial aid. The Federal PLUS is a loan for parents of dependent students and is credit-based, but the credit criteria is less stringent than that of private loans. If a Federal PLUS (8.5% interest rate) is denied, the student may be eligible, upon informing the financial aid office of the Parent PLUS denial, to receive a certain amount of additional Federal Unsubsidized Stafford Loan eligibility (6.8% interest rate).

*New - Student Loan Changes Ahead (posted 10/26/09)

The U.S. House of Representatives passed The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009 ("SAFRA")  on September 17, 2009. The legislation makes several significant changes to current federal financial aid programs, is now being considered by the Senate, and may or may not ultimately become law. 

For many years Tulane has participated with lenders (banking institutions) in the Federal Family Loan Program ("FFELP") in large part due to borrower benefits offered, as opposed to the parallel “Direct” Program through which certain federal student loans are disbursed directly from the federal government without the participation of a banking institution.  Recently, banking institution lenders have scaled back borrower benefits.  If SAFRA is passed by Congress and signed into law by the President, FFELP would be discontinued on July 1, 2010: all federal loans would be under the Direct Program, and federal student loan borrowers would be required to complete Master Promissory Notes with the Department of Education for their Direct Program federal loans. 

Tulane is preparing to participate in the Federal Direct Student Loan Program beginning with the summer 2010 semester.

Our office will advise students via our website, email, and letter regarding the necessary steps to ensure future loan funding. 

· Questions & Answers on the Transition to 100 Percent Direct Lending (from the Department of Education's website)

· Direct Loan versus the FFEL Program (from FinAid.org website)

The Fund for Veterans Education was established to provide scholarships to veterans from all branches of the United States Armed Forces who served in Afghanistan or Iraq since September 11, 2001 and who are now enrolled in college or vocational-technical school.  You can learn more about these scholarship funds here.