Students and their parents look to the college of their choice to help the family make the important decision of where to borrow money to help with expenses.

To help students narrow down the tremendous number of loan options available, many college financial aid offices offer a Preferred Lender list.  The lenders on our Lender List that we recommend for our students are reputable, and offer excellent customer service.

Our lender list is prepared by the Financial Aid office and is reviewed with the Director of Administrative Services. 

The list contains four unaffiliated lenders.  Students may access this list through the College’s website.  The website offers a comparison between lenders, listing total costs, total savings, and projected monthly repayments after the student leave the College.  The lenders on the list all have brand recognition.

The financial aid office meets with variety of lenders each year in an effort to keep abreast of new products and services.

Lender selection is made with the utmost of care, and with the best interests of our students and parents in mind.  Students will suffer no penalty from the college for choosing a Lender that is not on the Preferred Lender list.

Factors the college considers when choosing a lender:

• The terms and conditions of the loan to assure these are competitive.
   
• Does the lender offer additional loan products to meet the needs of our students?  An increasing number of our students are second career students who have reached the loan limits of the Stafford loan program, and are in need of funds to help them with costs associated with housing and insurance in addition to the educational related costs.
   
• Loan benefits packages (either front-end or back-end).  An example of a front-end benefit is when a lender pays all the loan fees on a Stafford Loan.  Back-ended loan benefits include receiving a lowered interest rate after a pre-determined number of repayments are made. 
   
• Does the lender offer a full range of electronic processes? Is the lender’s process fully electronic or are the loans processed manually. Turnaround time for students in paying tuition charges is critical if electronic processes are not available. 
  
  
• Is the lender responsive if an inevitable problem occurs?  The ability to contact a lender’s representative quickly if a problem occurs is very important so that students may resolve issues in a timely manner.
  
  
• Does the lender service their own loans, or sell them after origination?  Some lenders sell their loans after origination.  The lenders on our Preferred Lender list do not; they use major servicers so that student borrowers will not have to search for information regarding the holder of their loans.