- Loans allow you to delay paying a portion of your education costs until you complete your education or have a change in circumstances.
- Loan repayments are based on a five- to 10-year plan, usually beginning six to nine months after you graduate, drop to less than half-time enrollment, or leave school.
- Some loans offer multiple repayment options.
StudentAid.gov maintains cumulative records for Direct, Stafford, and Perkins loans. A borrower’s loan information will be available to institutions authorized to access this information (such as loan services and lenders). All loans are reported to the national credit bureaus.
Promissory notes
Loan responsibilities are described in the promissory notes you will be required to sign if you should choose to borrow. Please read these responsibilities carefully. Be sure you understand all rights and responsibilities before accepting a loan. Also if you wish to cancel, reduce, or change your loan award, you must contact Student Financial Services. (See Revisions to Your Offer of Financial Assistance.)
Viewing your loans online
Did you know that you can view your federal loans online? Visit StudentAid.gov, and log in with your federal personal identification number (PIN). Note: Federal nursing loans are not included.
Student Loan Advocate
For information and resources about student loan repayment, or to submit a complaint relating to your student loans or student loan servicer, please visit www.wsac.wa.gov/loan-advocacy or contact the Student Loan Advocate at loanadvocate@wsac.wa.gov.
SPU code of conduct for student loans
SPU officers, employees, and agents of SPU who have loan-related responsibilities uphold the following items required by federal regulation:
- SPU does not and will not assign alternative (private) loan lenders to any borrowers; borrowers have the right and ability to select any alternative loan lender of their choice, regardless of whether they are included in the SPU alternative loan lender list. Further, SPU will award loans from any alternative loan lender selected by the borrower.
- SPU does not accept private loans conditioned upon using the lender for federal loans.
- SPU does not and will not receive revenue or enter into revenue-sharing arrangements with lenders.
- SPU employees do not and will not accept gifts of more than nominal value from lenders, guarantors, and loan servicers.
- SPU employees do not accept from a lender, or affiliate of a lender, any fee, payment, or other financial benefit as compensation for any type of consulting arrangement or contract to provide services to or on behalf of a lender relating to education loans.
- SPU employees do not currently serve on any lending institution’s advisory board. When and if SFS employees do sit on an advisory board, they are prohibited from receiving anything of value for serving.
- SPU does not participate in opportunity pools with lenders. (Opportunity pool is defined as a private education loan made by a lender to a student, or the student’s family, that involves a payment by the institution to the lender for extending credit to the student.)
- SPU does not and will not allow lenders to identify themselves as employees of SPU; SPU does not allow employees of lenders to work in or provide staffing for SFS.
- SPU prohibits lenders from branding any loans with the identifying markings of SPU.
Latest loan rate
Your counselor in Student Financial Services can help you understand how different loan rates can affect your repayment plan. Just ask.
Unlike other forms of aid, education loans are borrowing on future earnings and are an investment in your future. They must be repaid.
Borrowing loans is recommended only after personal resources and other forms of financial aid have been used. However, loans are a helpful tool to many students and their families in paying for a college education.