Borrower's Rights

As a student borrower, you are entitled to:

• A repayment period of at least five years, as long as the monthly minimum payment of at least $50 is met.
• A copy of your repayment schedule and disclosure statement from your lender or guarantee agency.
• Have any questions about your Federal Stafford or Supplemental Loan answered by your lender or guarantor.

As a student borrower, you have the right to prepay all or any part of your loan at any time without penalty, have your loan obligation canceled if you die or become totally and permanently disabled, or defer payment for a specified period of time, if qualified.

Borrower's Responsibilities

Acceptance of an education loan requires:

• That you use the loan for educational expenses and repay your loan debt in full, even if:
  • You do not graduate or complete your program of study.
  • You are unable to obtain employment on ending or completing your program.
  • You are dissatisfied with the school or you did not receive the education or other services you purchased from the school.
• That if you fail to repay your loan according to its terms and conditions, your default will be reported to a national credit bureau and you may suffer any or all of the following consequences:
  • Collection agency action
  • Withholding of federal income tax refunds
  • Garnishment of wages
  • Loss of eligibility for federal student aid
  • Difficulty in obtaining other credit
  • In most instances, student loans may not be discharged through bankruptcy.
• That you make payments at the end of your grace period (or immediately upon disbursement of the Supplemental Loan), whether you have received a repayment schedule or not. If your first payment due date is nearing and you have not received a repayment schedule, contact your lender/servicer.
• That you must notify your lender if you change:
  • Schools.
  • Your name or address.
  • Your enrollment status (e.g., withdraw, graduate or drop to less than half-time status).
• That upon leaving school, you notify your lender/servicer of your expected employer and permanent address, the address of your next of kin, and any changes to your Social Security or driver's license number.
• That if you receive notice that your loan is being serviced by an agency other than your lender, you must refer all further correspondence, inquiries and payments to the servicer. You should keep copies of all your student loan papers, documents and correspondence.

As a student, you have the right to know:

• What financial assistance is available, including information on all federal and state programs.
• The deadlines for submitting applications for each of the student financial aid programs available.
• The cost of attending the school's programs and the school's refund policy.
• The criteria used by the institution to select financial aid recipients.
• How the school determines your financial need. This process includes how costs for tuition, fees, books, and living expenses are considered in your budget.
• What resources (such as employer reimbursement, other financial aid, etc.) are considered in the calculation of your need.
• How much of your financial need, as determined by the institution, has been met.
• An explanation of the various programs in your student financial aid package. If you believe you have been treated unfairly, you may request reconsideration of the award that was made to you.
• What portion of the financial aid you received must be repaid, and what portion is grant aid. If the aid is a loan, you have the right to know the loan interest rate, the total amount that must be repaid, the payback procedures, the length of time you have to repay the loan, and when the repayment is to begin.

As a student, you are responsible to:

• Review and consider all information about the school's program before you enroll.
• Complete all required forms accurately and submit them in a timely manner and to send them to the correct address.
• Pay special attention to, and accurately complete, your FAFSA. Errors can result in delay of receipt of your student financial aid. Intentional misreporting of information on application forms for federal student financial aid is a violation of law and is considered a criminal offense subject to penalties under the U.S. Criminal Code.
• Return all additional information, verification, corrections, and/or new information requested by either the Financial Aid Office or the FAFSA central processor.
• Read and understand all the forms that you are asked to sign and keep copies of them.
• Accept responsibility for all agreements you sign.
• If you have a loan, notify the lender of changes in your name, address, or school status.
• Know and comply with the deadline for application or reapplication for aid.
• Know and comply with the school's leave of absence or withdrawal policy/procedures.
• Repay student loans in agreement with the loan promissory note.

Financial aid recipients are required to attend the necessary class sessions as per the Academic Attendance and Tardy Policy.

Please see the University Catalog for more information.

The law specifies how we must determine the amount of federal Title IV student aid program assistance that you earn if you withdraw from school. The federal Title IV student aid programs that are covered by this law are: Federal Pell Grants, Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants, TEACH Grants, Direct Loans, Direct PLUS Loans, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOGs), and Federal Perkins Loans.

Though your aid is usually posted to your account early in each payment period, you earn the funds as you complete class time. If you withdraw during your payment period or term, the amount of Title IV program assistance that you have earned up to that point is determined by a specific formula. The withdraw date used in the formula is the last date of attendance for courses for which attendance taking is required.  For courses for which attendance is not required, the date of official notification of intent to withdraw or, if later, the last date of academically related activity as determined by IWU is used as your withdrawal date.  If you withdraw without officially notifying IWU, the last date of academically related activity will be used if it can be determined.  If such a date cannot be established, the midpoint date of the payment period will be used in the calculation.

If you received (or your school or parent received on your behalf) less assistance than the amount that you earned, you may be able to receive those additional funds. If you received more assistance than you earned, the excess funds must be returned by IWU and/or you.

The amount of assistance that you have earned is determined on a pro rata basis. For example, if you completed 30% of your payment period or term, you earn 30% of the assistance you were originally scheduled to receive. Once you have completed more than 60% of the payment period or term, you earn all the assistance that you were scheduled to receive for that period.

If you did not receive all of the funds that you earned, you may be due a post-withdrawal disbursement.  If your post-withdrawal disbursement includes loan funds, we must get your permission before we can disburse it to you. You may choose to decline some or all of the loan funds so that you don’t incur additional debt. We encourage this.  We may automatically use all or a portion of your post-withdrawal disbursement of grant funds for tuition, fees, and room and board charges (as applicable). We need your permission to use the post-withdrawal grant disbursement for all other school charges. If you do not give your permission, you will be offered the funds. However, it may be in your best interest to allow us to keep the funds to reduce your debt at IWU.

There are some Title IV funds that you may have been scheduled to receive that cannot be disbursed to you once you withdraw because of other eligibility requirements. For example, we are prohibited from disbursing a second or subsequent disbursement of direct loan funds unless you have graduated or completed the loan period.

If you receive (or your school or parent receive on your behalf) excess Title IV program funds that must be returned, we must return a portion of the excess equal to the lesser of:

1. Your institutional charges multiplied by the unearned percentage of your funds, or
2. The entire amount of excess funds

We must return this amount even if part of it was issued to you as a credit balance.  This may result in you owing IWU even if your account was paid in full before you withdrew.  If we are not required to return all of the excess funds, you must return the remaining amount.

Any loan funds that you must return, you (or your parent for a Direct PLUS Loan) repay in accordance with the terms of the promissory note. That is, you make scheduled payments to the holder of the loan over a period of time.

Any amount of unearned grant funds that you must return is called an overpayment. The maximum amount of a grant overpayment that you must repay is half of the grant funds you received or were scheduled to receive. You do not have to repay a grant overpayment if the original amount of the overpayment is $50 or less. You must make arrangements with IWU or the U.S. Department of Education to return the unearned grant funds.

The requirements for Title IV program funds when you withdraw are separate from any refund policy that IWU has. Therefore, you may still owe funds to IWU to cover unpaid institutional charges.  We may also charge you for any Title IV program funds that we are required to return. You can read the IWU refund policy in the IWU academic catalog. We also describe the process for officially withdrawing from school in the catalog.

If you have questions about your Title IV program funds, you can call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-4-FEDAID (1-800-433-3243). TTY users may call 1-800-730-8913.

Information is also available on   Student Aid on the Web.