Student Rights and Responsibilities

Rights

• Right to Appeal

  Students have the right to appeal any decision or change on their Financial Aid Award. All appeals must be submitted in writing to Student Financial Aid Services.

• Right to Confidentiality

  The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that provides for the confidentiality of student records. In order for our office to release information to persons other than the student, the student must have a Consent for Release of Student Information Form signed and on file.

• Right to Entrance Counseling

  Students can access loan entrance counseling on the federal student loan site. You will need to first sign in using your federal PIN number, then click on "Complete Entrance Counseling" to begin the process.  A record of your completed loan entrance counseling will be sent to the school you list in the School Information section.

• Right to Exit Counseling

  Loan repayment workshops are held at the end of each semester for students who are not returning to the University of Idaho the following semester. These sessions will answer most questions regarding loan repayment, consolidation, deferments, forbearance, and defaults. Loan repayment workshops are generally held the last three weeks of the semester. Additional exit counseling information may be accessed on the National Student Loan Data System.

• Right to In-School Deferment

  If students have borrowed money through the Perkins, Stafford or William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan programs, an in-school deferment may be available to them as long as they are enrolled in a degree-seeking program in at least half-time enrollment (6 credits per semester for undergraduates and 5 credits per semester for law or graduate students).

• Right to a Grace Period on Stafford Loans

  If students have borrowed money through the Stafford or William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan program, they have a right to one six-month grace period on each of those loans. The grace period will begin when the student is no longer enrolled at least half-time in a degree-seeking program.

• Right to Prepay Student Loans without Penalties

  If students have borrowed money through the Stafford or William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan program, they have the right to prepay those loans without incurring any penalties.

Responsibilities

• Address and Telephone Changes

  Students are responsible for updating their address in VandalWeb whenever a change in their address occurs. They also must notify Direct Loan Servicing Center if they: move or change addresses, change their telephone number, change their name, or change employers. The phone number for the Direct Loan Servicing Center is 1-800-848-0979.

• Fraud and Abuse

  Any student who fraudulently manipulates the financial aid programs or processes for personal gain, or commits fraud on an application for financial aid will be reported directly to the U.S. Department of Education. Cases of suspected fraud, including knowingly misrepresenting family or financial application information, purposeful certification of false statements as true and correct, or intentional falsification or misrepresentation on, or alteration of documents used in the financial aid process that results in the receipt of aid, will be reported for possible collection and/or prosecution.

• Making Satisfactory Academic Progress

  Students are expected to make satisfactory academic progress (SAP) toward their degree. If SAP is not met during the academic year, students may receive a financial aid suspension for the following academic year. Even students not receiving financial aid are monitored for SAP, and failure to meet requirements could result in a financial aid suspension in future years if the student applies for financial aid. 

• Loan Repayment

  Students are responsible for repaying any student loans they borrow even if they do not complete their academic program, are dissatisfied with the education they received, or are unable to find employment after graduation.

• Junk Mail

  Many students have been receiving unsolicited mailings from companies offering to consolidate their student loans. This junk mail is attributable to a federal regulation requiring that the U.S. Department of Education report all student loans to credit bureaus, who then sell the students' names and information to other companies.
  
  Students can avoid this unsolicited junk mail and prevent their names from being sold to other companies by contacting the Federal Trade Commission at 1-888-567-8688 and then selecting option 1 to have their name and personal information removed for 5 years or option 3 to have their names and personal information removed permanently. Option 2 will allow students to opt back IN, or restart the process of receiving credit and other finance-related offers.
  
  We encourage all students to call this number or go online and stop their names from being sold.
  
  We also strongly encourage students to ignore student consolidation junk mail. Only consider consolidation with the Direct Loan program which has "U.S. Department of Education William D. Ford Direct Loan Program" printed on its mailings.