Federal Loan Exit Counseling Session: April 30th at 6pm in Room 590

The last Federal Loan Exit Counseling Session for this semester has been rescheduled for Wednesday April 30th at 6pm in room 590. Students that had scheduled one-on-one appointments with the presenter will be contacted individually about the new date and time of their appointment via email.

All students that have applied to graduate in the spring semester, and have borrowed Federal Loans at the IIT Downtown Campus are required to complete Federal Student Loan Exit Counseling. In order to provide you with the most updated information and give you the chance to ask questions, we will be holding one final group exit counseling session that fulfills part one of the requirement. Part two of the exit counseling requirement will be fulfilled after you attend the group session. See instructions below. Students that have already contacted us letting us know they cannot attend will be notified in the coming weeks ahead via email of how to satisfy their requirement.

2-Step Federal Loan Exit Counseling Requirement Instructions:

1. Attend the in person Exit Counseling Session: It is very important that you attend the in person loan exit counseling session. By attending the session, you may gain a more in depth understanding of your student loans, your loan repayment options, and realistic loan repayment examples and scenarios. During the session, please take the opportunity to get answers to your student loan questions. You will also obtain your personal Loan Portfolio that lists all of the federal loans that you received while attending the IIT Downtown Campus. Please bring an ID and arrive early to pick up your Loan Portfolio. This will allow the presenter to go through all the material and answer all your questions.

2. You must complete the Online Loan Exit Counseling Session: We will take attendance during the in person loan exit session. After the in person session, all students who attended will receive an email with instructions for completing the Online Loan Exit Counseling Session. Once the online session is complete, your Federal Loan Exit Counseling requirement will be fulfilled.

The Office of Financial Aid understands that this is a very busy time for you but we strongly recommend that you take the time to complete your loan exit counseling requirement now rather than later. We have scheduled the sessions now so that distractions from your finals, job interviews and bar exam studying are minimized. It is our goal that when you graduate you feel informed and more at ease about your loans and your repayment options. Please keep in mind that if you are unable to attend any of these sessions we will make accommodations for you to meet this requirement at a later date.

Summer Financial Aid

Students who plan to take summer term courses at IIT Downtown Campus, or at an approved visiting school may be eligible for either federal or private loans. Students who plan on studying abroad should stop by the Office of Financial Aid to determine if their study abroad program/course is eligible to receive financial aid.

Students In order to be eligible you must have completed a FAFSA from the last academic year, (see our website for which FAFSA to complete) and have completed all required documents. We encourage students who are eligible for federal loans to accept these loans before considering private loans. Please note that anticipated loans and scholarships for the upcoming fall semester cannot be used to pay summer tuition.

At Least Half -Time Status
If you are registered at least half-time for the summer term (3 credits), you will be automatically offered federal loans. Once you accept your award(s) we will automatically process the federal loans under your current federal loan promissory note, as long as we have received your correct FAFSA information.

If you have already used your entire $20,500 Federal Stafford Loan eligibility during this past fall and spring semesters, you can only be offered the Federal Plus Loan up to the cost of attendance budget limit for the summer term. If you have remaining Stafford Loan eligibility, this will be offered to you first before a Federal Plus Loan is offered up to the cost of attendance limit. Students will be awarded based on a cost of attendance budget that equates to approximately 3 months of living expenses plus summer term tuition charges.

Approximately one week after you register for at least half-time you will be offered a summer term financial aid award package. You will receive an email award notification that will direct you to the myIIT portal to view and accept your award(s).

Less Than Half-Time Status
If you are registered less than half time for the summer term (less than 3 credits), you are ineligible for federal loans. You will not be offered an award if you are registered less than half time. You may apply for a private loan on your own if you wish or make payment arrangements with the Student Accounting Office. Some lenders offer private loans to students that are in less than half-time status during the summer term. In order to receive a private loan you must apply for the loan directly with the lender of your choice and inform our office in writing via email that it is your intention to use a private loan for summer term. Private loans are not automatically renewed. To apply for a private loan online with the lender of your choice, please visit our website for private loan information.

Federal Stafford and Federal Graduate Plus Loan Procedures
Once you have accepted your loan(s) via the myIIT portal, we will automatically process the loan(s) using your current promissory note(s) from the previous Fall and Spring semesters. If you have not borrowed a Federal Stafford Loan at IIT Downtown Campus, you will need to complete the loan requirements listed on our website. Even though you may not be required to complete a new promissory note, the Department of Education may be required complete a new credit check for the Federal Plus Loan, if your initial loan was approved more than 90 days ago. Also, if your initial Federal Plus Loan has an endorser, you will have to complete a new Master Promissory Note (MPN) and your endorser will need to complete the endorser application in order to receive the loan funds. See our website for Plus Loan credit information.

Summer Disbursement Schedule

Summer Loans will disburse according to the following schedule:

10 days before classes start: Students with completed files for the summer term will receive their funds disbursed to their student accounts at this time. Our office must verify your enrollment and eligibility before the funds can be credited to your tuition account. This process may take approximately 1-3 days beyond the scheduled disbursement date.
Refunds: Please contact the Student Accounting Office for refund estimation times. Their contact information is email: sa@iit.edu and phone: (312) 567-3794 option 5.

FAFSA 2014-2015 Reminder

In order to qualify for financial aid for the 2014-2015 academic year (fall 2014, spring 2015, summer 2015), you must complete the 2014-2015 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The priority completion date is March 1st.

You can complete your FAFSA online at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov. In order to apply you will need your Personal Identification Number (PIN). Please remember to include our school code, E00773, when completing your FAFSA and keep in mind that the school name will be listed as Chicago-Kent College of Law. It can take up to 1-2 weeks for your financial aid award to be processed by our office. You will receive an award notification when your financial aid award is ready to be viewed and accepted on the myIIT portal.

If you need help completing the FAFSA, the Department of Education provides several helpful resources with complete instructions, videos, and contact numbers. Additionally, if you have any questions please feel free to call the Office of Financial Aid at (312) 906-5180, or send an email to finaid@kentlaw.iit.edu.

Still haven't received your 2013-2014 Financial Aid Award?

Has it been 3 weeks since you completed your FAFSA and you have not received a financial aid award for the 2013-2014 academic year? (fall 2013, spring 2014, summer 2014). If so, follow these instructions to make sure your FAFSA information is sent to the Chicago-Kent College of Law, Office of Financial Aid.

Go to www.fafsa.ed.gov and view your Student Aid Report (SAR). Make sure the Chicago-Kent College of Law school code E00773 is listed on your FAFSA. Once you correct the school code it will take 1 to 2 weeks to receive a Financial Aid award notification.
If you have the correct school code listed on your FAFSA, check your SAR comments. Your SAR comments will let you know if the data that you entered on your FAFSA has caused an error that prevents your FAFSA information from being transmitted to the school. If there is a problem with the data that you entered on your FAFSA, please update the data elements requested. Once you update the information, it will take 1 to 2 weeks to receive a Financial Aid award notification.
If your comment codes are showing no problems and you have E00773 listed as your school code please contact the Office of Financial Aid so that we can find out why you have not received an award.

Don't Forget to Accept Your 2013-2014 Awards

If you still have not accepted or declined your loans, please do so as soon as possible. You must use your myIIT account to accept/decline your loans. If you do not accept your loans, we cannot process them. That is why we urge you to accept them now to avoid delays with disbursement. If you do not wish to wish to receive any of the funds, you may decline the loan(s) using the myIIT portal.

Please select one of the options below on the myIIT portal at: https://my.iit.edu/cp/home/displaylogin.

Accept: If you wish to receive any portion of the loans still listed as offered, you must accept the funds. Also, please be aware that you may be required to complete a Master Promissory Note and Loan Entrance Counseling with Direct Loans at studentloans.gov before the funds can be disbursed. Please refer to your 'Requirements' section on the myIIT portal, and see our website for more information about loan requirements.

Decline: If you do not wish to receive any of the funds still listed as offered please decline the loan(s) using your myIIT portal.

Missing Required Documentation

To avoid delays, please submit any requested documentation as soon as possible. See our website for Forms and Worksheets and Loan Requirement links.
Please follow the steps below to see if you still have missing requirements:

Log into the Illinois Institute of Technology's myIIT portal at the following link: https://my.iit.edu/.
Select the 'Finances' tab from the menu.
Required documents are listed in the Financial Aid Requirements channel.

Please note that completing the Financial Aid Awareness Counseling does not satisfy the Loan Entrance Counseling Requirement. It is an optional counseling session that covers the basics of financial literacy. The required counseling session is called Loan Entrance Counseling. Please see our website sections entitled "Loan Requirements" and Forms and Worksheets."

Once you complete your Master Promissory Notes (not loan application) and Loan Entrance Counseling via the Department of Education's website, it may take up to 2 weeks for your required document status on the myIIT portal to reflect this. If it has been over 2 weeks since your completion of a Promissory Note or Loan Entrance Counseling and your documents status on myIIT is still showing not received, please contact our office.

If you were awarded the Perkins Loan please check your Kent email (or your IIT e-mail address on the welcome screen of your myIIT portal, as communications could be sent there), for information from the IIT Perkins Loan servicer, ECSI, on completing the Promissory Note and Entrance Counseling. Students that competed this requirement as of the 2011-2012 academic year are not required to complete this requirement again. This maybe marked as spam in your mailbox, but it is not. You will not be able to complete the promissory note online if ECSI does not have your information on file that is why we ask that you wait until you receive an email notification. However, if mid-August has passed and you have not completed this requirement, please contact ECSI directly at 1-888-549-3274 and state that you are attending the IIT Downtown Campus. Also, for more information see the Student Account's (formerly Bursar's Office) website at:

http://www.iit.edu/bursar/institutional_and_perkins_loans.shtml

A Note For 3L Students

Q: Are you a full-time graduating JD student that is planning to take less than 12 credits in either fall 2013 or spring 2014? If yes, please read the information below and follow the instructions to ensure that your financial aid disbursements for 2013-2014 are not delayed.

A:Your financial aid award and cost of attendance are based on your registration in the minimum credits required for your program and enrollment status. As a full-time day student, your initial cost of attendance is based on your enrollment in 12 credits per semester. We are aware that many full-time students take less than 12 credits in their last 2 semesters. For this reason, if you are taking less than 12 credits please be aware of the following:

In order to be eligible for federal loans you must be enrolled at least half time. Half-time for JD students is 6 credits. Unfortunately, if you plan to take less than 6 credits you are ineligible for federal loans and you must make alternative arrangements to pay your tuition balance.
Generally, in order to be eligible for your scholarship you must be enrolled in at least 12 credits. In some cases, the Office of Admissions allows graduating students to receive their scholarship when taking less than 12 credits. Please contact the Office of Admissions for further confirmation.
If you plan to take between 6 and 11 credits, it is best to send your enrollment intentions, for both the fall and spring semesters, to our office via email to prevent delays of your disbursement and refunds. Once we receive your enrollment intentions, we will customize your cost of attendance budget to reflect your projected enrollment. It is best to let us know your enrollment intentions at least 3 weeks before classes start to ensure that your financial aid is not delayed.
The Office of Financial Aid cautions students against borrowing up to the Cost of Attendance limit. Be advised that if you do not register for the credits that you have stated your financial aid may be reduced, resulting in a tuition balance due to the school immediately.
If your registration for the fall and spring terms is not for the same number of credit hours, your financial aid refund will not be for the same amount each term. Therefore, we ask that you budget accordingly.

A Note For 2L Students

Q: It looks like my 2013-2014 financial aid package is a lot smaller than the financial aid package that I received as a first year law student, is this correct?

A: Yes, for most students this is correct and here are the reasons why:

A one-time lap top allowance is included in your first year Cost of Attendance (COA) budget. This line item is not included in the COA for continuing students.
As a first year JD student, your COA is based on a flat rate tuition charge. As a continuing student your initial COA is based on a per credit tuition charge. The tuition component of the COA is based on a minimum of 12 credits per term for full time and 6 credits for part time students.
Eligible continuing students are awarded Federal Work Study (FWS). It is a need based employment program that requires students to earn their award amount through work. FWS reduces the amount a student can borrow in federal student loans. If you do not plan on participating in the program and need additional funds you may email to request the amount be converted into additional loan funds.
If your current cost of attendance does not meet your financial requirements please send your fall and spring enrollment intentions, and if you are authorizing a FWS conversion, via email to the Office of Financial Aid. In your email, please specify the following in your email authorization request:

Exact dollar amount that you need
Number of credits that you intend to take in both semesters
If you are declining FWS

Please note, the Office of Financial Aid cautions students against borrowing up to the Cost of Attendance limit.

New: Loan Origination Fee Increase as of December 1st

Federal Sequestration Impacts Loan Origination Fee Increase on December 1, 2013

As of December 1, 2013 the loan origination fees on the Federal Direct Stafford and Federal Direct Plus Loan will increase for the remainder of the 2013-2014 academic year and be effective until October 1, 2014. The new loan fee percentages will apply only to loans where the first disbursement of a loan is made on or after December 1, 2013.

To help you determine whether this change will affect your 2013-2014 Federal loans, we have provided a few examples of different loan scenarios. See the examples and chart below for further explanation:

Example 1: A student accepts a loan on the myIIT portal for the first time before or after November 30, 2013 and has an incomplete file. The first disbursement is scheduled after November 30th, therefore the newly accepted loan will be subject to the new origination fee.

Example 2: A student requests to increase his existing Graduate Plus Loan after November 30, 2013. His existing Graduate Plus loan was approved with an endorser/co-signer. Increasing a Graduate Plus loan that was initially approved with an endorser requires a new loan origination record and a new endorser application. Since the loan increase will require a new loan origination, the first disbursement of this loan increase will occur after November 30th, and as a result will be subject to the increased loan origination fee.

Example 3: A student accepts his 2013-2014 Graduate Plus Loan in July 2013 but the loan is pending for credit. The student decides to appeal the credit decision with Direct Loans. The student works with Direct Loans and gets the credit appeal approved after December 1, 2013. As a result the first loan disbursement occurs after November 30th, therefore it will be subject to the increased loan origination fee.

Example 1: A student requests to increase her existing Graduate Plus Loan. The student was approved based on their credit only, without an endorser or credit appeal. The first disbursement of the existing Graduate Plus loan occurred on September 12, 2013. Since the first disbursement occurred before December 1st the loan increase is not subject to the origination fee increase.

Example 2: A student accepts a Stafford Loan via the myIIT portal on November 10, 2013. The fall portion of the loan is disbursed on November 27th. Since the first disbursement occurred before December 1st the loan is not subject to the origination fee increase.

Direct Loan Program Loan Fee Amounts

New: Lower Loan Interest Rates

As a result of the recent Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act of 2013 federal student loan interest rates for the 2013-2014 academic year have been lowered to 5.41% on the Federal Direct Stafford Loan and 6.41% on the Federal Direct Plus Loan. The new law amends the Direct Loan interest rate section of the Higher Education of 1965.

Planning to Study Abroad?

In order to determine if your study abroad program/course is eligible to receive financial aid please stop by the Office of Financial Aid. If you've been granted permission to study abroad through Chicago-Kent College of Law and are borrowing educational student loans to meet your educational costs, please complete the Chicago-Kent Study Abroad Application Form with the Office of International Law and Policy, and obtain the Office of Financial Aid signature, or submit a copy of the form. Please be sure to list the program name, semester of study, and credit hours. The financial aid process for the study abroad program can take 4 to 6 weeks.

If credit is approved by home school (Chicago-Kent), student may be considered enrolled at home school for financial aid purposes. You must still follow the same eligibility criteria as if you were taking classes at Chicago-Kent. You must complete a FAFSA, be enrolled at least half time, and be degree seeking. Please be aware that your Cost of Attendance during your study abroad term will be based on the living expenses and tuition charges of the program, not the standard Chicago-Kent budget.

The Office of Financial Aid does not determine the Cost of Attendance for host schools. For this reason, it is very crucial for each student to thoroughly research the host school's charges and costs of living prior to their departure. It is the students responsibility to budget themselves until their financial aid is processed.

Planning to Visit Another Law School?

If you have been granted permission to study at another law school for credit toward your Chicago-Kent law degree and are borrowing educational loans to meet your educational costs, you must notify the Financial Aid Office as soon as possible. You must complete the Financial Aid Request Form to Visit Another Law School, if you wish to use federal student loans.

We will ask the host school's Financial Aid Office to complete a Consortium Agreement with cost of attendance amounts, and their Registar's Office to provide enrollment verificaion with dates of attendance, and credit hours.

Once we receive all the required documentation from the visiting school, we will finalize your financial aid award, and you can accept the loans you wish to borrow on the myIIT portal. The funds will be scheduled to disburse to your student account according to your enrollment period at the visiting school. If you are expecting a refund, the Student Accounting Office will process it. It is the students responsibility to pay tuition at the visiting school. Please be sure that you have set up direct deposit of your refund.

Reminder: Direct Deposit Available

Please be aware that the university allows students the option of having their financial aid refunds direct deposited into their checking or savings account. The university encourages all students to sign up for direct deposit. Click here for more information on the new TouchNet service.

Bar study loan information

Bar Examination loans are intended to assist students in paying for bar preparation courses and meeting other financial needs while studying for the Bar Exam.

Students may submit the application for the Bar Exam Loan funds during their last year before graduation. The terms, conditions, and credit criteria for Bar Examination Loans are similar to those for alternative loan programs. Unfortunately, students with negative credit ratings are generally not eligible for Bar Exam loans.

To apply for a Bar Examination Loan, review the Bar Loan Information, on our website. Once you are approved, the lender will contact our office to certify your loan. The funds will be disbursed directly to you from the lender.

Free Credit Report

Financial Aid Contact Information

The Office of Financial Aid is dedicated to assisting students in financing their education and making financially informed and responsible decisions. Please feel free to contact our office at any time during the office hours listed below.

Office of Financial Aid

Week of April 7, 2014