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Lender Introduction
UMDNJ participates in the Federal Education Loan Program (FFELP). See our link on this page for further details. We urge you to take some time to review these programs and be sure to exhaust all other resources before participating in any loan programs. We take very seriously the high debt levels that Health Professions student may face. Therefore the lenders we recommend must meet a few very strict requirements in order that we can assure the best possible rates (at the current time), specialized customer service, and advanced technology. These lenders have been most often utilized in the past by your Health Professions peers. Be aware that you have a choice of lenders and are not limited to those on our recommended list. We will process all requests. We continue to monitor the service each lender provides and on an annual basis will review our list. Feedback regarding your experiences are welcome.
Please review the recommended list and the detail for each before making a selection. If you are a returning student and wish to continue with your current lender simply notate this on your Financial Aid Application where indicated. Incoming students see step by step instructions on how to apply for loans.
Lender Disclosure
The lenders on our list have demonstrated a commitment to providing programs specific to the borrowing and repayment needs of Health Professions students and provide high quality customer service and quick accurate loan processing. These lenders are established financial organizations with many years of history and experience lending to Health Professions students. The performance of our lenders is evaluated each academic year. This evaluation is conducted by our institutional Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) Task Force and is based on a variety of criteria such as their ability to meet the unique needs of Health Professions students with borrower benefits, provide exceptional customer service and advanced technology. The FFELP Task Force reviews the eligibility criteria of each lender via websites, phone calls, and in-person meetings. Based on our findings and the needs of our students, a list of lenders is compiled for each discipline within UMDNJ. These lenders can change from year to year as current lenders are evaluated and new lenders are considered.
Lender Eligibility Criteria
1) Programs that address the unique needs of the Health Professions students. Our student’s average borrowing is in excess of $120,000 on average. With this debt burden comes tremendous pressure as to how to manage, budget and repay these loans back. Participating lenders must have addressed these concerns both at the front end as well as the back end of the borrowing. Reduced fees at the front end are important but of even more importance is the back end benefits provided to our students to help them manage the debt and deal the multiple issues of a Health Professions student borrower.
2) Exceptional customer service provided to both the borrowers and the educational institution. Lenders must be able to provide specialized customer service (staff that is familiar with Health Professionals and their issues) to students who will call with questions during their borrowing lifetime. In addition, lenders that have limited partners help to minimize the variables at repayment. Borrowers need some sense of security that their loans will not be sold multiple times which will ultimately impact not only their timely repayment and therefore their credit but also the default rates at the educational institutions.
3) Advanced Technology is a must to keep up with the demand of our borrowers in the receipt of funds in a timely manner. All loan applications as well as loan proceeds should be processed electronically to eliminate not only paper processing but the delay in funds applied to student’s accounts.
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