Dubiln Packard

Student Loan Lawyer

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Academic Attendance: How Does It Affect My Student Loans

Student loan form with dollars and books.

Academic attendance is just one of the the many things to keep in mind when applying for student loans and is one of the basic application requirements. While it may seem obvious, Academic Attendance is the first requirement to applying for a student loan.  In some cases, this is so but some universities and even colleges within the university may have different academic attendance requirements that can affect student loans. It is the responsibility of the student to know what the attendance requirements are and the best way to find out is to ask the university student loan office.

With the cost of college tuition steadily increasing each year, most university students seek loans. The most common student loans are handled through FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). The information included here relates to such federally-backed student loans. To be clear, the United States government does not do the lending. Rather, the loans are backed by and administered by the U.S. Department of Education. As with any government backed program, there are requirements for approval and requirements which must be maintained throughout the term of the loans. One of these is academic attendance.

What Are the Academic Attendance Requirements for Federal Student Loans?

The basic requirements for Federal Student Aid is that the requester must be accepted for enrollment or currently be enrolled as a “regular student” in an approved degree program. This means that the loan enrollee must be at minimum a half-time student. However, each university may have its own academic requirements which must be met to maintain approval of the student loan. This can create some confusion, especially given the vague terms ‘regular’ and ‘half-time.’

For purposes of the student loan application, a regular student can be enrolled half-time but most universities distinguish between the two such that a regular student is one thing and a half-time student is another. Generally, most colleges consider a regular student to be a full-time student, one who is taking between 12 and 14 credit hours per semester. A half-time student is anything under 12 hours.

Under federal guidelines, a student taking less than 12 credit hours per month is eligible for student loans but only if the academic requirements of the attended university permits the reduced workload. Some do not.

For instance, one student took out loans for a semester at a University and enrolled in 14 hours of classes. After a few weeks, he decided that he needed to drop a class. The class he dropped comprised three credit hours. This lowered his academic attendance to 11 hours for the semester and he was removed from regular student status at the university. At that point, he became responsible for the loans. He contacted the lender and made payment arrangements so that he remained eligible for student aid. The following semester, he enrolled for 12 hours and the payments were deferred. This shows that although federal guidelines allow for less than full-time status to be considered a regular student, the university may have stricter guidelines.

This being the case, each university also has requirements related to the total days present in classes. Such attendance requirements vary from college to college so students should check with their student advisor or financial aid office to learn more. Failing to attend classes can also result in the loss of federal student aid.

University Academic Attendance Requirements Can Hinder or Halt Student Financial Aid

The bottom line is that most students enter college with the understanding that Federal Student Aid guidelines are the requirements which they must meet. In some cases, this is so but some universities and even colleges within the university may have different academic attendance requirements that can affect student loans. It is the responsibility of the student to know what the attendance requirements are and the best way to find out is to ask the university student loan office.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sources

https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/glossary

https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2009/attendancedata/chapter1a.asp

https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/eligibility/staying-eligible

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Student Loans A to Z

Student Loans A to ZThis is the first in a series of articles about student loans. Since the financial crisis of 2008-09, there has been much debate about the student loan situation in the United States. In just the last decade, the cost of student loans has increased to nearly one and a half trillion dollars. In other words, this one form of debt alone comprises nearly eight percent of the GDP. Naturally, many are concerned.

How did student debt become such a major issue in America? To understand, a fast history of student loans is in order.

A Fast History of Student Loans

The history begins in 1040 when private lenders provided loans to students attending Harvard University. A prestigious school even then, costs were such that the loans would help the students with the cost of living while in attendance.

Twenty-seven years later, the United States Department of Education was created. The new bureaucracy had a mission of helping schools raise standards and increase enrollments. But, no formal student loan program was implemented.

In fact, the first formal program by the United States did not occur until after World War II. There were soldiers returning home from the war in large numbers. With all of those GIs returning to the workforce, it was a challenge. Much of the United States’ industrial output was consumed in war production, which was no longer as necessary as before. Recognizing the strain to the economy such a large home migration would cause, Congress passed the G.I. Bill to provide funds for military members to go to school.

Many economists have attributed the enormous economic increases in the following decade and a half to the G.I. Bill. The strain to the economy was mitigated and upon graduation, the U.S. economy had a well-educated workforce.

At the same time, the Cold War was on. To better compete globally, the National Defense Education Act was passed in 1958. It provided scholarships, grants, and loans for students who excelled in math, science, and languages. These were the first Federal student loans.

Not long after, the Civil Rights movement and President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society produced the Higher Education Act to provide funds for needy students. The Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) would become the first guaranteed student loan program in the nation. Banks and private lenders could provide the funds needed and the U.S. government would back them with subsidies and guarantees. By 1972, the Pell Grant was created.

It would be another twenty years before major changes occurred. In 1992, FAFSA was created to provide a simpler means of providing educational funds. The unsubsidized direct student loans have become the standard and ultimately, lead to the current situation.

A Fast History of the Current Student Loan Crisis

A year after establishing FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), the Student Loan Reform Act provided students with direct access to funds. Instead of the loans going direct to the educational institution, students could request extra funds to cover living expenses up to a specified limit. In times of economic crisis more people enroll in school. The financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 nearly guaranteed massive increases in federal student loan guarantees.

One final element ensured that student spending and loans would rapidly increase: Online universities. Along with easy access to funds came easy access to classes. Little wonder that many American’s, desperate to better their standard of living, enrolled in the easy programs. Most of these online programs also offer training at hyper-inflated rates, further increasing the cost of education. Some of these online programs are just plain junk and impress no employer (more on that later).

Given the ease of lending combined with the ease of attendance, anything other than higher student debt would be surprising. But, the easier lending becomes, the less people tend to know about the terms and conditions. With many student loan debts coming due, many are now seeking to understand just what they got themselves into.

In this series of articles, Student Loans A-Z, we are going to cover most of the basics. We encourage you to bookmark our blog are return often or sign up for updates to receive each post as they are published.