The William D. Ford program can be reached at1-800-557-7392 or via their website at http://www.loanconsolidation.ed.gov.

Benefits and Caveats

Thus, the key benefits of a consolidation loan include the following:

Replacing payments on multiple loans with a single payment on the consolidation loan.
Access to alternate repayment plans, such as extended repayment, graduated repayment, and income contingent repayment. Although these plans may be available to unconsolidated loans, the term of an extended repayment plan depends on the balance of the loan, which is higher on a consolidation loan.
The ability to lock in the interest rate, including the ability to lock in the lower in-school interest rate during the grace period.
There are, however, a few drawbacks to consolidation:

When a borrower consolidates during the grace period, the borrower has to begin repayment immediately and loses the remainder of the grace period, including possibly interest benefits on subsidized loans.
The borrower may lose some of the favorable loan forgiveness provisions on the Perkins loan when it is included in the consolidation loan. Perkins loans included in a consolidation loan will also be treated as unsubsidized, meaning that the federal government will no longer pay the interest on the loans while the student is in school.

At the present time the University does not provide online access. However, we are working toward the development of this capability, which we anticipate having available in the future.

No, the bill indicates that, "If payment is not received your monthly payment will be increased to a level at the commencement/resumption of repayment that will fully repay the loan within the original loan term." Therefore, you don't have to pay now, we are just informing you of the amount interest that has accrued on your account through the date indicated on the bill. By making this and future payments you will be able to retain the monthly payment amount that you agreed to pay when you left graduated. If you don't, the amount will go up. Secondly, you can't consolidate this loan because it is not a loan backed by the federal government.

Yes, a statement reflecting interest payments made during the year for IRS purposes is automatically sent at the end of January.

Coupons are automatically sent each December for payments to be made during the following year.

No. The new policy began in September 2001 and previous loans are not affected by this change. All loans made prior to the fall semester of 2001 are repaid under the terms of the promissory notes. Princeton's new no-loan policy, effective with the 2001-2002 academic year, eliminated need-based loans from financial aid awards. Students who qualify for need-based aid receive a financial aid award that consists of job and grant, rather than job, loan, and grant. The amount that would have been included as loan is included in the grant. The new policy does not impact past borrowing, nor does it change the availability of non-need based loans. Princeton continues to offer Student Loans to students who apply, but are not eligible for need-based financial aid.