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• 'President Obama on Friday signed into law a new way of setting interest rates for federal education loans. The rates will now move with the financial markets, which means lower rates for the coming school year. For the coming school year, the interest rate for undergraduates is 3.86 percent, and for graduate students it is 5.41 percent. The rate for PLUS loans, which are taken out by parents of students and graduate students, is 6.41 percent. These rates will lock in for the lifetime of the loan. All are lower than the original rates of 6.8 for undergraduates and graduates and 7.9 percent for PLUS loans.' The Washington Post, 9th August 2013

• On August 2, 2011, Congress passed the Budget Control Act of 2011, which put into place automatic federal budget cuts, known as the “sequester.” While this law does not otherwise change the amount or terms or conditions of your Direct Loan, it does raise loan fees on Direct Loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2013. The loan fee for Direct Subsidized Loans and for Direct Unsubsidized Loans is increased from 1.0% to 1.051%. The loan fee for Direct PLUS Loans (for both parent borrowers and graduate and professional student borrowers) is increased from 4.0% to 4.204%.

• Exit Counseling was moved recently from the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) Student Access Web site to StudentLoans.gov.

• On 30 March 2010 President Barack Obama signed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, which, amongst other things, made significant changes to the federal loans programme.  All US government loans changed to Direct Loans (under the William D Ford Federal Direct Loan Programme) for the year 2010-11 onwards. This means that your loan will come directly from the US government rather than from a financial institution like a bank.

• New Student’s applying for a visa will receive a proof of funds letter once US Federal Loans have been confirmed by the federal aid administrator.  When traveling to the UK this letter should be available to present to the UK Border Agency on request.

• With effect 1 August 2012, Graduate/Professional students are no longer eligible for subsidised loans.

• Under the clarification of the Gainful Employment Regulations page 34389 of 13 June 2011, for implementation 1 July 2011, “the Program Integrity Issues final regulations (75 FR 66832)-- Clarified that only certificate or credentialed non-degree programs of at least one academic year that are offered by a public or non-profit institution of higher education are gainful employment programs;” Queen’s does not offer non-degree GE-specific (gainful employment) courses and has no employment or debt ratios to publish under this category.

Federal Loan Types