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Federal Loan Application Process

STEP 1. Apply for a PIN.

Apply for a PIN at www.pin.ed.gov or link via www.fafsa.ed.gov so you will be able to e-sign your 2011-2012 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and loan applications. You may also begin to complete your FAFSA at www.fafsa.ed.gov and save your data until you receive your PIN.

STEP 2. Complete your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) either online at www.fafsa.ed.gov or from our External Resources page under Financial Aid.

Complete the 2011-2012 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) once you have finished your 2010 federal income tax return. The FAFSA is the key document for determining eligibility and must be completed online and submitted to the Federal Processor as early as possible using your 2010 federal tax information. It is never too late to apply for the upcoming trimester. Thunderbird will receive the information electronically as long as our school code (G01070) is listed. Within 48-72 hours you will receive an e-mail from the Federal Processor with a link to your electronic Student Aid Report (SAR). Review the report and your responses carefully. If the SAR letter questions anything on the information you submitted, follow the instructions on the form and make the corrections or contact the Financial Aid Office for assistance. Once the SAR is correct, print a copy for your records. If you do not receive your e-mail notification about your SAR within two weeks call 1-800-4FEDAID to check the status.

STEP 3. Follow Up

All discrepancies or conflicting data indicated on your SAR must be resolved in order to continue the financial assistance process and receive your financial aid eligibility letter. This may include verification documents. The Financial Aid Office tells you what information and documents are required to resolve any issues. If the SAR does not find any discrepancies or conflicting data, this step may be skipped and your file is considered complete for the award period.

**Please note you must be an admitted student to move beyond this step.**

STEP 4. Receive Intro E-mail

This e-mail will outline tasks that you may wish to do in preparation for receiving your award eligibility letter.

STEP 5. Receive File Complete E-mail

This e-mail will outline tasks that you should to do in preparation for receiving your aid eligibility letter. You will be sent a user name and password for Access Thunderbird, by our I&IT department, which will allow you to view, accept and/or reject your financial aid awards once you receive your Award Notification Letter. This will be sent to you soon after you receive your File Complete Letter.

STEP 6. Receive Award Notification E-mail

When you receive notification that your Financial Aid Award Letter is available, you will be asked to review the award information online through Access Thunderbird. Your specific awards, for which you are eligible, will be listed. Follow the instructions in the notification e-mail to accept and/or reject the aid offered to you for all the awards listed. To ensure you receive funds by the first day of classes or as quickly as possible after the first day of classes, you must accept your awards within ten days of receipt of this email as well as complete all items noted in the checklist in a timely manner.

Accept/Reject your Financial Aid
Complete your Master Promissory Note (MPN). If you accept, the federal Direct Stafford (Subsidized & Unsubsidized) and the Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loan, you will need to complete two separate MPNs, one for each loan program, at https://studentloans.gov/myDirectLoan/index.action.
Complete a credit check by clicking on "Request A PLUS Loan" at https://studentloans.gov/myDirectLoan/index.action. Please note this is a totally separate process from completing a Master Promissory Note. This process completes a credit check which is an essential part of obtaining your Federal Direct Grad PLUS Loan and should not be completed more than 90 days prior to the start of classes as credit checks are only good for 90 days.
Complete Online Student Loan Entrance Counseling. All federal financial aid recipients are required to complete an entrance counseling session (one time per school). Thunderbird will not certify a loan if loan entrance counseling has not been done. The complete the Entrance Counseling for the Federal DIrect Stafford Loan and the Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loan please go to the following link: https://studentloans.gov/myDirectLoan/index.action.

If, after you receive your award information, you no longer need financial aid, please reject the awards listed.

STEP 7. Follow up - Award Notification

Within 15 days of recipt of your Financial Aid Award Notification Letter, if you have not taken action on your awards via Access Thunderbird and/or we have not been notified that you have completed all necessary Master Promissory Note(s) for the Federal Direct Stafford and Federal Direct graduate PLUS Loans, as applicable, and/or the loan entrance counseling, you will be sent a reminder notice of what must be completed before our office may complete the loan process. If you have accepted a Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loan, you must have also completed a credit check which is an essential part of obtaining your Federal Direct Grad PLUS Loan.

STEP 8. Loan Application Processing (Origination with the Department of Education)

When the Financial Aid Office receives confirmation that you have completed your Master Promissory Note(s), obtains your decision of the accept/reject results of your awards through Access Thunderbird, verifies that you have completed loan entrance counseling and completed a credit check (if applicable), your loan(s) will be certified and the information shared with the Department of Education. The Financial Aid Office will not originate a Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loan without first receiving confirmation of your approved credit.

STEP 9. Funds Post

Once the Department approves the loan(s), Thunderbird will post funds to your student account shortly before classes begin or usually within 10 days of processing (originating the loans). Student eligibility is reconfirmed (enrollment,etc.) and the Finance and Accounting Office is informed. You are sent a notice from Financial Aid indicating which funds have been received and the amount applied to your account. A hold on these funds may occur if there are any discrepancies that need to be resolved. If this happens, we contact you to resolve the discrepancies and handling of the funds.

STEP 10. Refund of Credit Balance (Excess Funds)

If financial aid funds posted to your student account create a credit balance, a refund will be processed beginning at the end of the second week of classes. However, if financial aid funds are not covering all charges, you will need to make arrangements with the Accounting Office regarding payment by the first day of classes.