You must complete the financial aid application process to be considered for a student loan. The Financial Aid Office staff will process your award, which often includes your loan eligibility amounts. You will be able to view your award and accept or decline aid on My Northeast. If loans are not included in your aid package, contact the Financial Aid Office. You still may have eligibility. Once you know what your eligibility is you must complete the following:

1. Accept or decline the loan(s) on My Northeast or by returning a paper award letter. Indicate the amount(s) you wish to borrow for the year.
2. Complete a Direct Loan Master Promissory Note (MPN) at www.studentloans.gov. The MPN is a legal document in which the borrower promises to repay the loan and any accrued interest and fees to the Department of Education. It also explains the terms and conditions of the loan. This only needs to be done when you apply for your first Direct Loan at Northeast.
3. Complete online Direct Loan Entrance Counseling at www.studentloans.gov

Northeast will be notified once you have completed your Direct Loan Master Promissory note and Loan Entrance Counseling and we will certify your loan request for the amount that you accepted in your award notification.

On subsidized Direct Student Loans the U.S. Department of Education pays (subsidizes) the interest while the borrower is in school at least half time. A student has a grace period of 6 months after they graduate, leave school, or drop below half-time status before they must begin repayment on the loan. Beginning with the 2012-2013 school year interest will accrue during these 6 months and will be payable by the student rather than subsidized by the federal government.

The interest rate on a subsidized Direct Student Loan first disbursed to undergraduate students between July 1, 2012 and June 30, 2013 carries a fixed interest rate of 3.4 percent. Contact the Financial Aid office for the 2013-2014 interest rate.

For an unsubsidized Direct Student Loan, the borrower is responsible for paying the interest that accrues. The student does not have to pay any principal, but can either pay the interest as it accrues or it will be capitalized (i.e., added to the principal loan balance later). A student has a grace period of 6 months after they graduate, leave school, or drop below half-time status before they must begin repayment on the loan.

Unsubsidized Direct Loans disbursed to undergraduate students during the same time period noted above have a 6.8 percent interest rate. Contact the Financial Aid office for the 2013-2014 interest rates.

Your student must complete the financial aid application process (FAFSA) in order for you to be considered for a Direct Parent PLUS loan. To borrow a Direct Parent PLUS loan for a student, the parent must be the student’s biological or adoptive mother or father. A stepparent is also eligible to borrow a PLUS loan if his/her income and assets were taken into account when calculating the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) on the FAFSA. A legal guardian is not considered a parent for federal purposes. The student must be attending at least half time and maintain satisfactory academic progress. Parent borrowers wishing to apply for a Direct Parent PLUS Loan must complete the following:

1. The Northeast Direct Parent PLUS Loan Request Form available from the Northeast Financial Aid Office. Please contact our office at 402-844-7289.
2. Direct Parent PLUS Loan Application at www.studentloans.gov
3. Direct Parent PLUS Loan Master Promissory Note (MPN) at www.studentloans.gov. The MPN is a legal document in which the borrower promises to repay the loan and any accrued interest and fees to the Department of Education. It also explains the terms and conditions of the loan. In most cases, one MPN can be used for loans that a parent receives over multiple academic years although a separate Northeast Loan Request and PLUS Loan Application must be filed for each school year. The parent who completes the Northeast Direct Parent PLUS Loan Request Form must be the same parent who completes the MPN and PLUS Loan Application.

The Financial Aid Office at Northeast will be notified once you have completed the MPN and PLUS Loan Application. We must receive this notification and the Northeast PLUS Loan Request Form before any PLUS loan funds can be disbursed to your student’s account.

The interest rate on PLUS loans first disbursed on or after 7/1/06 is currently 7.9 fixed. The loan fee on PLUS loans is 4.0%. Please contact the Financial aid office for the 2013-2014 loan fees.

Payments are made to the U.S. Department of Education for both Direct Student Loans and Direct Parent PLUS Loans.

Students do not have to start repayment of Direct Student Loans until six months after they graduate or they fall below half-time status. However, payments may be made at any time towards your loan. Your loan servicer will provide information about repayment and will notify you of the date loan repayment begins.

The repayment period for all Parent PLUS Loans begins on the date the loan is fully disbursed, and the first payment is due within 60 days of the final disbursement. Parent PLUS Loan borrowers whose loans were first disbursed on or after July 1, 2008, may choose to have repayment deferred while the student for whom the parent borrowed is enrolled at least half-time and for an additional six months after that student is no longer enrolled at least half-time. Interest that accrues during these periods will be capitalized if not paid by the parent during the deferment. Your loan servicer will provide information about repayment.

The U.S. Department of Education's National Student Loan Data System^SM (NSLDS^SM) provides information on your federal loans including loan types, disbursed amounts, outstanding principal and interest, and the total amount of all your loans. To access NSLDS, go to www.nslds.ed.gov.

If you're not sure who your loan servicer is, you can look it up on www.nslds.ed.gov or call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-4-FED-AID (1-800-433-3243; TTY 1-800-730-8913). To see a list of Federal Student Aid servicers for the Direct Loan Program and for FFEL Program Loans purchased by the U.S. Department of Education, go to the Loan Servicer page.