A long-time lender associate, SmartFUNDS has announced they will no longer be participating in the Federal Family Educational Loan Program (FFELP) effective immediately.  How does this affect MSU students? Nearly 900 of our current students use SmartFUNDS  as the lender for their current student loan; these students will be required to select a new lender and to sign a new Master Promissory Note (MPN) with that new lender for the next term in which they borrow a Federal Stafford Student loan, whether it be the summer or fall semester of 2009.

These students will be given the opportunity to select a new lender when they receive their award letters for either of these semesters.  The new lender selected will not be able to disburse any loan funds to the school on a student’s behalf until they have received and processed a MPN for that student, so it is vital that a student follow through with this requirement.  In an effort to help our students select a new lender, we encourage them to visit our web site for information about lenders who continue to participate in the FFELP program.  The web address for our partial lender list is http://www.missouristate.edu/FinancialAid/lenderlist.html , or a student can select a lender not on the list as long as that lender is a FFELP associate.

Please note, selecting a new lender will in no way change the terms of a student loan; the interest rate and repayment requirements will remain the same no matter which lender is selected.