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Federal Direct Loan Unsubsidized

Once a student earns their first Bachelor's degree, they are no longer eligible to receive Federal Pell Grant or Federal Direst Subsidized Loans. Graduate Students are only eligible to receive Federal unsubsidized loans. This means that the borrower begins paying interest on the loan at the time the loan is made. In most cases, the principal can be deferred during enrollment periods. Unsubsidized loans can be used to meet the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) calculated in the FAFSA need analysis.

Eligibility: There are several criteria that a student must meet to be eligible to receive loans.

  1. Must complete a FAFSA
  2. Must be enrolled in 6 hours (half-time) at the time the loans are to be transmitted**
  3. Must be registered in an approved program
  4. Must not be in loan default
  5. Not have exceeded their annual or aggregate loan limits
  6. Meet SAP

*Six semester credit hours (sch) constitute a full-time semester load for graduate students who are admitted to and enrolled in an accelerated online program, taking classes in eight-week terms. For all other graduate students, 9 semester credit hours constitute a full-time semester load. The maximum course load for graduate students is 15 sch in a fall or spring semester or 6 sch in a seven-week summer term.

Loans are packaged automatically to all students who qualify. If the student wishes to receive their additional unsubsidized amounts, they must come to the Office of Financial Aid and request them.

Accepting Loans: A student can accept all, some, or none of their loans. If a student wishes to accept their loans and have them applied to their bill, they must complete the loan acceptance process.

The loan acceptance process is as follows:

  1. Student completes entrance counseling at studentloans.gov
  2. Student completes a Master Promissory Note (MPN) at studentloans.gov
  3. Student accepts awarded loan acceptance thorough the myUTPB student portal

In the fall semester, students who intend to enroll in both the fall and spring semesters will get one disbursement in the fall and one disbursement in the spring.

Students enrolled in the 8-week accelerated classes only, or who accept a loan in one semester at a time, will get their first disbursement at the beginning of the semester and their second disbursement at the 60% mark of the semester.

Once the Loan Officer has verified the student is eligible for a loan, they will initiate the disbursement process.

Over Awards, Refunds, and Returns: The Office of Financial Aid attempts to catch an over award before a refund check is sent to the student but sometimes this is not possible. In the instance of an over award, the student will be required to pay back the funds. If when the loan funds are applied to a student's account, a refund occurs, the refund will be sent to the student.

If a loan has been originated, and before it is transmitted to the student, the student drops to less than half time status, the loan will be cancelled and the student will not receive it.

Reporting: Loan amounts are reported to COD, through EDE Express.

Disbursement Letters: Disbursement notification informs the student of when loans will be disbursed, as well as informing them that they do not have to accept their loans and they can return their loans if they fill out a loan cancellation form within 14 days of receiving their disbursement letter.

TEACH Grant

The TEACH Grant program is a non-need-based grant program that provides up to $4,000 per year to students who are enrolled in an eligible program and who agree to teach in a high-need field, at a low income elementary or secondary school as a highly qualified teacher, for at least 4 years within eight years of completing the program for which the TEACH Grant is awarded.

The student must sign an Agreement to Serve (ATS), and complete entrance counseling each award year prior to receiving a TEACH Grant.

If the student fails to meet the requirements of the service agreement, the TEACH Grant will be treated as a Direct Unsubsidized loan, and the student must repay the TEACH funds, with interest accrued from the date of disbursement.

The TEACH Grant award amounts are similar to Pell awards in that there is a Scheduled Award, which is the maximum that a full-time student would earn for a year, and an Annual Award, which is the amount a student would receive by enrolling for a year in an enrollment status.

A student may receive up to $16,000 in TEACH grants for undergraduate and post-baccalaureate study, and up to $8,000 for a TEACH-eligible master's degree program.

Packaging: TEACH Grant is packaged if the student comes to the Office of Financial Aid and requests to receive them. Once the student requests TEACH Grant funds:

  • Their entrance counseling and ATS are checked for completion.
  • The student's GPA is also checked, the minimum standard for GPA is 3.25.
  • The student's major and certification type is checked. They must be completing a high-needs certification.
  • If these are complete, the TEACH Grant is packaged to the student based on their enrollment status.