At Harvey Mudd College, we understand the challenges a student face when seeking for a Federal Stafford Loan or a PLUS Loan from the Federal Family Education Loan Programs (FFELP) and have developed our Code of Conduct for Educational Loans.

To start the loan process, the student will need to choose an eligible lender. For your convenience, we have researched on 18 lenders for the 2008-2009 academic year based on the following six criteria:

1) Borrower Benefits
2) Technology Options
3) Customer Service
4) Loan Processing
5) Contact Information
6) Additional Considerations.

In addition to the six criteria, as mentioned above, we also look at:

• The quality of customer service to borrowers,
• Advantageous repayment options that allow for interest-rate reduction for on-time payments or other timely repayment rewards,
• Processing capabilities, which expedite the application process and the receipt of funds, and
• Immediate resolution of any processing problems at any time.  

We submitted Request for Information (RFI) from the lenders in January and set a due date of the last day of January. Out of the 18 lenders, 12 lenders replied on time for our RFI reviewing and scoring process. During the reviewing process, some of the lenders have changed their borrower benefits and/or discontinued the FFEL Programs, leaving us with 8 lenders for consideration. After reviewing all the RFI information provided by the remaining lenders, we have selected five lenders to be added to our Lender Reference List.

Our Lender Reference List is a recommendation and Harvey Mudd College students are not required to select a lender from our list. Students can choose to use any FFEL Program lender of their choice.

Choosing a lender is an important decision—one that will affect you for the life of your loan. If you have no prior Federal Stafford or PLUS loans, we encourage you to consider the lenders below who we have added to our Lender Reference List:

Access Group (800) 282-1550 Lender Code: 808851

ALL Student Loan (888) 271-9721 Lender Code: 833752

U.S. Bank (800) 242-1200 Lender Code: 815678

Wachovia (800) 338-2243 Lender Code: 830005

***For the 2009-2010 academic year, our Lender Reference List will be remaining the same as last year with the exception of US Bank who will no longer be participating in FFELP as of September 24, 2009.***

If you decide not to use our Lender Reference List, we have provided a list of other FFEL Program Lenders for your convenience.

If you have previously borrowed a Federal Stafford or PLUS loan, we recommend that you remain with the same lender, even if it is not listed as one of the recommended lenders. This will ease the confusion on payments to multiple lenders.

Please put the lender’s name, address, and Lender Code, respectively, on items #8 and #9 on your Federal Stafford Loan Master Promissory Note and/or items #9 and #10 on your Federal PLUS loan Master Promissory Note.

Once you have selected a lender, please notify the Office of Financial Aid of the lender you selected by emailing us at financial_aid@hmc.edu or by calling us at (909) 621-8055.

Note:  If you borrowed a Federal Stafford Loan or a Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS) through College Board, they will no longer make education loans and have sold their loans to Sallie Mae. Here is their contact information:
Sallie Mae Education Trust (888) 272-5543 Lender Code: 802218

Last Updated: October 2009