Student Loans

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All federal loans are processed through the William D. Ford Federal Direct Lending Program.

View the Loan Disbursement Process and applicable disbursement dates.

Federal Educational Loans:

Federal Direct (subsidized and unsubsidized)
Federal Direct PLUS and Grad PLUS

Private Loans:

Private Student Loan Listing (ELM Select)

Federal Direct Loans Steps

If you have not borrowed with the U.S. Department of Education (ED), you will need to complete Entrance Counseling and an electronic Master Promissory Note (E-MPN). You can complete these using the StudentAid.gov website!

In order to sign in and complete these requirements, you will need to create an FSA ID.
If you have an E-MPN completed from another school, you will not have to complete it again as long as within the first year of signing the E-MPN, you had a loan disbursed. If you did not have a loan disbursed within the first year or if it has been ten years since the E-MPN was signed, a new E-MPN will be necessary. And in either case, you still have to complete Entrance Counseling.

All federal student loan borrowers will receive a confirmation email from ED once they have successfully completed the E-MPN. The requirements will be shown as complete in your ASIST account 48 hours after completing the Entrance Counseling.

The Financial Awareness Counseling listed under “Tools and Resources” on https://studentaid.gov/ is not able to be substituted as the required Direct Loan Entrance Counseling.

If you have any issues on the government website, make sure you are using Internet Explorer 6 or later, or Mozilla Firefox 2.0 or later.

You can track your federal and private loans.
StudentAid.gov also lets you review your federal grants and loans and keep track of your remaining lifetime eligibility.

Federal Direct PLUS Loans

Steps to Complete a Federal Direct Parent or Grad PLUS Loan

Sign-in with your information at https://studentaid.gov/.
Select “Request PLUS Loan” from the options on the left side of the page.
Choose the type of loan you plan to apply for (Parent PLUS or Grad PLUS) and complete the application. Note: the parent is the borrower of a Parent PLUS loan and will require parent information on the application.

Appeal a Credit Decision on a Federal Direct PLUS Loan

Liberty University will not process a credit decision on any Federal PLUS loans and will only accept the official credit decision offered by the U.S. Department of Education. If you wish to appeal a credit decision, you should do one of the following:

Contact Application Services at (800) 557-7394 to speak with a representative from the U.S. Department of Education — Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-11 p.m. (ET).
Find an endorser for the loan and complete an official endorser addendum. This must be submitted with the ticket number assigned to you by the U.S. Department of Education Application Services Department.

Low Credit Scores

If you had poor credit but were approved for a Direct Parent PLUS or Direct Graduate PLUS loan by getting a qualified endorser (or documenting to the satisfaction of the U.S. Department of Education that there are extenuating circumstances related to the borrower’s adverse credit), you must complete the new Direct PLUS Loan Counseling requirement.

Consolidating Your Loans

After graduation you have a choice: You may either make individual payments to your previous lender(s) and to the U.S. Department of Education (ED), or you can consolidate your loans into one payment with ED through a Federal Direct Consolidation Loan.

Canadian Students

Canadian students who are considering attending Liberty University can review Canadian Student Loan options. These loans are processed through the Canadian government and do have eligibility and application requirements.

International Students

International students who need assistance in financing their education have the option to apply for private educational loans through a private loan lender. Most private loan lenders require an international loan applicant to also have a U.S. co-signer during the application process. View listing of lenders for International students.

Resolving a Loan Default

Federal Requirements for Default Resolution

Federal regulations prohibit the awarding of additional federal student aid (FSA) to students who have defaulted on a federal student loan. However, you can regain eligibility for FSA by resolving the default status.

The U.S. Department of Education has established the following three methods to resolve a default status:

Repayment in full (including consolidation): You can resolve a default by repaying the loan in full.
Satisfactory repayment arrangements: You can regain eligibility on an FSA loan in default after making six consecutive, full, on- time, voluntary payments under a repayment arrangement that is satisfactory to the loan holder. You may regain eligibility under this option only one time.
Loan rehabilitation: Although you can regain eligibility for all FSA funds by making satisfactory repayment arrangements, the loan is still in default. After you make nine full, voluntary payments on time (no later than 20 days after the due date) within 10 consecutive months, the loan becomes eligible for rehabilitation.

After a default status has been resolved, sufficient documentation must be sent to the school indicating that you have regained federal aid eligibility. Per federal regulations, the documentation must be from the entity that reported the default to NSLDS. Clearly show that each defaulted loan has been resolved; be provided in writing on the entity’s letterhead (or another format that ensures its origin) and dated.

Additional loan default information can be found at the U.S. Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid website.

Keep track of your federal student loans and what you have borrowed using the NSLDS.