It is your responsibility to select a lender for your federal and/or private educational loans, obtain loan application(s) from the lender, and submit your completed applications to the Financial Aid Office for certification. For more detailed information regarding federal and private educational loan programs, please visit the Columbia University website. Please be aware that students have the right and ability to select the education loan provider of their choice, are not required to use any suggested lenders and will suffer no penalty for choosing a lender that is not a suggested lender. It is recommended that U.S. citizens and eligible non-citizens apply for federal loans before private/alternative loans because federal loans generally have better terms and conditions.
If you are applying for educational loans, you must contact your selected lender(s) and request an application. It is suggested that you apply online or by telephone:
• For the Federal Stafford Loan, first time borrowers at Columbia Law School need to request a Federal Stafford Loan Master Promissory Note (MPN) and complete it. Submit the signed MPN to your lender of choice and a copy of the MPN to the Law School Financial Aid Office. Once our office has received the copy of your MPN, we will certify your eligibility for the loan and will forward the certification to your selected lender. Continuing students for whom the Columbia Law School Financial Aid Office certified a Federal Stafford loan in a prior year do not need to submit a new MPN, unless they wish to change their Stafford lender.
• For Federal Graduate PLUS loans, applying online or by telephone will allow you to learn as early as possible if your credit application has been accepted, and we strongly encourage students seeking credit-based loans to avail themselves of the quick approval process offered by many lenders. First time borrowers at Columbia Law School need to complete a Federal Graduate PLUS Loan Master Promissory Note (MPN), submit the signed MPN to your lender of choice and a copy of the MPN to the Financial Aid Office for certification of the loan. We will certify your eligibility for the loan and will forward the certification to your selected lender. Continuing students for whom the Columbia Law School Financial Aid Office certified a Federal Graduate PLUS loan in a prior year do not need to submit a new MPN, unless they wish to change their Graduate PLUS loan lender. For more information, please refer to Loan Approval. Since Graduate PLUS loans are credit-based, you must reapply each year for this federal educational loan.
• For private educational loans, applying online or by telephone will allow you to learn as early as possible if your credit application has been accepted, and we strongly encourage students seeking credit-based loans to avail themselves of the quick approval process offered by many lenders. Once you have completed the loan application with your lender of choice, submit it to the Financial Aid Office for certification, or follow the lender’s instructions. For more information, please refer to Loan Approval. You must reapply each year for private educational loans. Please be aware that the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 contains a section (401) pertaining to Federal Loan Forgiveness for Public Service Employees. The federal loan forgiveness provisions require borrowers to have borrowed Direct Loans or to have consolidated their federal loans through the Federal Direct Consolidation Program. As such, we advise that borrowers carefully consider the available educational loan programs (private versus Graduate PLUS) to ensure that their individual loan borrowing fits into their long-term financial planning. While borrowing through private educational loan programs may provide better loan terms, it also may limit your options should you decide one day to use the Federal Loan Forgiveness for Public Service Employees program. While we encourage loan borrowers to refer to the detail of the actual legislation in determining all relevant issues, the Financial Aid Office is available to address individual concerns.
Remember that keeping all of your educational loans with one lender may be convenient for record maintenance and repayment. As such, you may wish to borrow your private and federal loans from the same lender. If you already have an educational loan, you may contact your previous lender for a new loan application. Please note that borrowing from the same lender is not a requirement as students reserve the right to borrow from any lender they choose.
As a reminder, loan applications should be submitted to the Financial Aid Office by May 15 to ensure timely processing. We cannot be responsible for delays in receiving funds if loan applications are received late, or if applications cannot be certified because of missing documents. In addition, students who need loan funds to pay their University bill are urged to complete their loan applications early. Penalties assessed by the University for late payment of the student bill will not be waived for students who complete their loan applications late.
Information on private educational loan programs is available online at the University's website.
