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Federal Stafford Loan Comparison Chart

When choosing a Stafford Loan lender, please consider the following:

The federal government sets the loan interest rate, so that it will not vary from lender to lender.
Some lenders charge guaranty and/or origination fees. These fees will be deducted from your loan amount when the funds are disbursed.
Most lenders offer repayment incentives, which will vary from lender to lender.
Some lenders participate in electronic processes that can expedite the disbursement of financial aid.
The lenders on our commonly used list have demonstrated exceptional customer service, provide full electronic processing and have competitive repayment incentives and benefits. We monitor the performance of these lenders and work directly with them to ensure the quality of your service. We only have the capability for this type of partnership with a limited number of lenders. If you select another lender we recommend you consider these points.
There are other lenders with similar services and repayment benefits. Valuable information about the Federal Student Loan Programs can be found at www.studentaid.ed.gov, select Stafford Loans then How to Choose & Evaluate Lenders.
Student loan lenders have the right to change their repayment benefits structure whenever they choose. Please contact you lender directly to verify your repayment incentives.

To help you determine the amount of loan funds you will need, please download the Estimated Cost Worksheet.

Select a Lender

You are free to select any lender you wish; however, IIT-DTC Office of Financial Aid has selected a number of lenders who offer the best benefits and services for our borrowers. Review our Lender List Information to learn more about the process we used to arrive at our selections.

The lender list is in alphabetical order.

	Access Group 808851	Citibank 826878	Discover 831312	Wachovia 830005
Student Eligibility	U.S citizen, or eligible non-citizens. Student must be enrolled at least half-time.
Origination Fee	0.5%	0.5%	0%***	0.5%
Default Fee	0%*	0%*	0*%	0%*
Interest Rate	Fixed at 6.8%
Annual Loan Limit	$20,500 for Graduate/Professional Students
Aggregate Loan Limit	$138,500 for Graduate/Professional Students
Grace Period	6 Months after graduation
Standard Repayment Term	Automatic standard repayment for up to 10 years. Other flexible repayment options are available	Automatic standard repayment for up to 10 years. Other flexible repayment options are available	Automatic standard repayment for up to 10 years. Other flexible repayment options are available	Automatic standard repayment for up to 10 years. Other flexible repayment options are available
Repayment Incentives or Borrower Benefits**	0.25% interest reduction for auto-debit. Have option to apply for Economic or Unemployment Hardship to defer payments.	0 .25% interest reduction for auto-debit. Have option to apply for Economic or Unemployment Hardship to defer payments.	0.25% rate reduction for auto- debit. Have option to apply for Economic or Unemployment Hardship to defer payments.	Have option to apply for Economic or Unemployment Hardship to defer payments.
Items to Consider	Does not sell loans but is receiving short term financing from the Dept.of Education (DOE). This DOE program provides the option to sell.	As general rule they do not sell loans but sometimes sells to third party. May sell some loans to Department of Education.	Does not sell loans. Not participating any Department of Education programs for 2009-10.	Sells all loans to 3rd party after spring disbursement or grace period. May sell some loans to Department of Education. an qualify for Bar Loan if you have a loan through Well Fargo/ Wachovia.
Online Loan Application/MPN	Click Here School Code 001691-01	Click Here School Code 001691-01	Click Here School Code 001691-01	Click Here School Code 001691-01
Telephone	1-800-227-2151	1-800-967-2400	1-877-728-3030	1-877-689-0763

*Some guarantors agencies will pay this 1% default fee on behalf of the student. For our students, this is being paid by Texas Guarantor. If you use a lender that is not on this list please be aware you may be charged this fee depending on which guarantee agency the lender uses.
**Student loan lenders have the right to change their repayment benefits structure whenever they choose. Please contact you lender directly to verify your repayment incentives.

***Discover will begin to charge the 0.5% fee to all loans disbursed after October 1, 2009.

Due to recent changes in their Federal Student Loan Program, Chase has been removed from the IIT Downtown campus lender list.

If you would like to see information regarding the lender selection process please contact out office finaid@kentlaw.edu.

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