Student loan vent

That's wonderful, M!    I'm so happy for you!!!  Yep, Edfund is my guarantor and so far they are WAY more helpful than BOA.  After reading your story I might even call back this afternoon and try to get some things faxed...and I'm going to email and call my uni tomorrow to make sure that they know that Edfund is going to try to contact them soon.

I feel like I'm in a lottery system...

Pinging around - this ball says your loan will go smooth.  This ball says you will hit several snags.  This ball says your school is going to be difficult.  Etc.

Oh, the mercy of bureaucracy!

well, I called back, and got this update:

Apparently, the *only* thing that is holding the loan up is that loan dude hasn't replied to the guarantor's email to confirm my information.  I'm not surprised, seeing as that loan dude has never deigned to respond to any of my emails *sigh*  So, I'm calling the international office tomorrow and pestering them until loan dude replies to the email. Hopefully this will happen tomorrow or if not, early next week....

EDIT: Damn, that was fast- looks like I should give loan dude more credit   I sent off a tersely worded email to him pretty much right after I posted this, and not five minutes later I got a response from him saying it was done.  Yay!  I guess marking my email URGENT in big capital letters helped, hehe.  I'll call the guarantor later this afternoon/evening to make sure they got the email, and with any luck, this should all be over in a few days (or ideally tomorrow, but I think that would be wishful thinking, lol.)

Yay!!  I just called EdFund back, and my Stafford loan has been guaranteed!!!  30-45 days my ass!  Total Score: Andrea 1, Bank of America 0 

So now to call BOA tomorrow and confirm final approval and my September 1st disbursement date and I'm all set!! 

Hey, Andrea, I was given Sep 15 as the disbursement date.  Are you sure you got the 1st?  The way the lady said it on the phone made it sound like those were the standard dates for everyone (Sep 15, Dec 15, and Mar 15).  I'm also assuming since they don't actually have any of my bank account details, the money goes STRAIGHT to the school, right (and I only get some if there's extra)?  I don't really care anymore, as I'm just glad the whole thing's OVER.

When I phoned BOA this afternoon, the phone monkey sounded a little puzzled that I needed physical PROOF of the loan (like a letter or similar).  She kept that saying that since I signed the MPN, then there was nothing left to do & goodbye I'd see the money on disbursement day .  So I sent an e-mail to my contact, and she said a letter would be in the mail tomorrow.  HURRAH.  The second that letter is in my hot hands, my visa application is in the mail!

I'm jealous you got yours so quickly, considering mine's been in processing for weeks!  You had the benefit of my mistake - waiting!  So for all Stafford-applyees of the future - don't wait!  Get in touch with your guarantor directly and make sure they have your school's contact info!  Because they sure won't go to any effort for YOU .

The disbursement dates for both of my loans was 9/1/06 and 1/3/07. And I believe the check is in my name, I pick it up, deposit it, and write a check to the university. My main concern is this...if they're disbursing the Stafford Loan in two increments and I have to pay for the full year in September, I'm going to have to tap into my private loan to pay my tuition. Correct??

OMW...Are you sure you have to pay the entire thing up front?  My uni is letting me split it up into four installments.  Weirdly enough, though....my TERI loan is being disbursed in one lump sum ($13K) on 9/15.  I thought I would have at least two installments, but apparently not.  I'm still waiting on BOA to process my guarantee...I'm calling them late this afternoon to see if they've done it yet.  I'm reasonably sure, however, that my first disbursment date is going to be 9/1 (I'm not sure about later disbursments) because I changed the dates myself with BOA when I was having an issue with it a week or so ago.  And the guy on the phone at EdFund said that it looked like I was going to end up with a 9/1 disbursement.

I just called BOA (waited until almost 5pm and by the end of it I couldn't take it anymore!) and my loan has been approved!  Disbursement dates are 9/1/06 and 1/5/07.  I'll be glad to get the letters in the mail next week, but for now I'm just breathing a huge sigh of relief.

Edited to add my Stafford Loan timeline, for future applicants' information:

May 27- Filled out FAFSA
June 12- Mailed 8 Page SAR to my uni
June 23- My university mails the school certification form back to my lender
July 5- Lender sends my application to the guarantor
July 13- Loan guaranteed (the key here was making SURE that my loan dude responded to the guarantor's verification email- this is what got the guarantee pushed through in a timely fashion.)
July 14- Final Approval

I am so jealous of all of you that have finally gotten your loans completely processed....I am still waiting on my graduate Plus loan (stafford is finished though, with letters in hand)....

OMW - I have the same concerns!  I am worried that I am going to have to dip into non-existant funds to pay my tuition at the beginning of the year, because they are electing to disburse my loans in three installments (the school I am attending is in trimesters)  I guess a call/email to the school is in order to find out what the actual deal is....

Right now the USPS is driving me NUTS.  It's been since Friday since BOA (HOPEFULLY!!) mailed my disbursement letter and since Saturday since my mom sent her support letter for my application.  It's now gone past Wednesday's mail and *nothing*.  Extremely frustrating - I hate waiting! 

Right now the USPS is driving me NUTS.  It's been since Friday since BOA (HOPEFULLY!!) mailed my disbursement letter and since Saturday since my mom sent her support letter for my application.  It's now gone past Wednesday's mail and *nothing*.  Extremely frustrating - I hate waiting! 

Me too!  My TERI loan was approved last Wednesday and I still don't have my letter- I won't find out if it came in today's mail until tonight when my mother picks up the mail after work (everything's getting mailed to my parents' house so I don't have actually have any of the physical documents...my dad just scans it into PDF and sends it to me over email when something comes in the snail mail for me, hehe.)  What makes the waiting easier is that I have a what-if game plan- if TERI loan letter doesn't come by the weekend, I'm calling them on Monday; if BOA letter doesn't come by Monday, I'm calling them Tuesday.

I replied on your LJ, but I got mine yesterday.

This is getting a little off-topic from this thread, but I mailed the visa application!  It went FedEx overnight, to arrive on Monday.  Wheeeee!!!

Hello fellow student loan victims,

    I have... gotten my loans cleared and my loan dispersement dates.  I have also gotten my visa.  So... the moral of the story is, there is light at the end of the tunnel.. and I don't think it's an oncoming train.   We shall see in the fall I suppose.

    I'm totally serious about a pub get away.  Good luck all.

Me too.  Let's go!

I suppose I'm reopening a very old thread, however I need to have a vent right now!!!!
I will preface by saying I have to pay my program fees for study abroad through ASU in eth US, so I don't have to do the whole jumping through visa hoops (I think!), but just have to pay domestically.

I just barely got accepted to study in London at UCL through IFSA Butler and my home uni, ASU (Arizona). First thing I did was apply for my FAFSA (which I should have done before, but I have not even been accepted to ASU yet as a student... which is a whole other can of worms I won't delve into right now!!!), and it was marked as "Processed" today. I asked my International Programs office adviser what I should do next and he asked me if the amount awarded covers my program or not. The thing is, they didn't show any award amount, just my EFC.

So I called the ASU Financial aid office, and first the nice lady told me (and yes, I took down her name) that it takes a few days to download and update my file from FAFSA. Then when I told her I was a transfer student, she said that they wouldn't know what my award amount would be until May 1st.

THAT IS THE FEE DEADLINE!!! I have to have all of my loans together to be able to pay the program fee (which I don't even know the total amount yet!) by May 1st! I told her that the IPO said that I would know before hand and that I'm to print off a cost sheet with my program fees listed and bring it down to the financial aid office to have it adjusted according to the huge fee, compared to regular tuition, so that I would know what's left to pay for. She said the IPO was wrong, and they would have to adjust their due date to abide by the ASU Finanicial aid office dates.


AGGGGH!

How is that even possible?@!!?