Sallie Mae International

Newsletter, winter 2008. 

Peak loan processing 2007–2008 update and survey

As we begin 2008, the staff at Sallie Mae International continue to do everything possible to ensure your processing goes smoothly. Learn more about the efforts we make to serve you better.

On our peak processing season survey, we hope you will provide feedback as a means of enhancing our service to further meet the unique needs of our international institutions. The survey is web-based and should take approximately 10 minutes to complete.

Student loan regulatory updates

President Bush signs legislation extending the Higher Education Act

On 31 October 2007, President Bush signed into law another extension of the Higher Education Act, the authority for key U.S. federal student-aid programmes. The law extends authority for all programmes under the Higher Education Act until 31 March 2008. For more information on this and other extensions, and for a transcript of the Senate floor debate on the matter of the extension, please visit www.nasfaa.org/publications/2007/
g9heaext110107.html
.

Final regulations on FFELP loans published

On 1 November 2007, the U.S. Department of Education published final rules based on a series of Notices of Proposed Rulemaking. These final rules were the subject of much discussion and comment by the student financial aid community earlier this year, and impact universities, lenders, and guarantors participating in Title IV programs. The final rules appear in two parts:

USA Funds has prepared an excellent summary of the highlights of the new rules:

New updates incorporated into the Common Manual

Recent changes approved by the Common Manual Governing Board in October 2007 have been incorporated into the Common Manual and are now available online for review. A summary of changes is available, as is the full text, and the Integrated Common Manual, which provides the most up-to-date policy information available. The Integrated Common Manual may be downloaded from www.commonmanual.org/
commonmanual/listing.cfm?manual_entry_id=2
.

Student loan eligibility for distance learning

Legislation passed in 2006 by the U.S. Congress modified eligibility for distance learning programs. See how this might affect your students and institution.

Sallie Mae operational updates

  • Sallie Mae's most recent loan delivery release provides enhanced functionality for both student and university administrative users of OpenNet.
  • We have helped increase the number of Federal PLUS loan approvals for our U.S. borrower customers, thereby making it easier for students and parents to obtain the education funds they need.
  • We would like to advise our non-U.S. institutions about Sallie Mae’s operational policy when the lender on the borrower’s promissory note differs from the lender listed on your certification of that borrower's loan.
  • Need an easy way to get in touch with Sallie Mae International to update your institution’s information (PDF, 20KB)?

General updates


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Policy tips: FAFSA requirement for Parent  PLUS loan eligibility

Question: Our institution is working with a parent who is refusing to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to obtain a Federal Parent PLUS loan for the dependent student.

Is there a requirement that mandates that a student complete the FAFSA before a PLUS loan can be processed?

Answer: There is no federal requirement that the student and the student's parent complete a FAFSA to be eligible for Federal Parent PLUS loan funds.

The institution may — and many universities do — establish a policy that requires the completion of a FAFSA before certification of a parent's eligibility for a PLUS loan.

Federal regulations, however, do not mandate this type of institutional requirement. If the institution’s policy requires the student and parent to complete the FAFSA, then the institution should apply the policy consistently to all parents as a condition of PLUS loan eligibility.

P.O. Boxes and credit checks — did you know?

Fair Isaac will no longer accept P.O. Boxes as the primary address for private loans for borrowers and cosigners. If a P.O. Box is used as the primary address, a denial code will be placed on the account and the credit decision will be coded as "pending" instead of "approved," "denied" or "eligible."

Once a physical address has been provided, the credit decision will be corrected with the appropriate decision. The U.S.A. Patriot Act requires borrowers and cosigners to provide at least one physical address before disbursing a loan.


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