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(GEN-10-01) (GEN-10-01) Subject: Education Loan Applicant Self-Certification Form

Publication Date: February 14, 2010

DCL ID: GEN-10-01

Subject: Education Loan Applicant Self-Certification Form

Summary: The letter announces the approval of the Private Education Loan Applicant Self-Certification form for use by institutions and private educational loan lenders.

Dear Colleague:

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved the enclosed Private Education Loan Applicant Self-Certification form (Self-Certification form) under OMB Control Number 1845-0101. The Self-Certification form will be used by institutions and private educational lenders to satisfy the requirements of section 487(a)(28) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA) and section 128(e)(3) of the Truth-in-Lending Act (TILA).

The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (Pub. L. 110-35) (HEOA) added section 128(e)(3) to the TILA to require that before a private educational lender may consummate a private education loan for a student in attendance at an institution of higher education, the private education lender must obtain the completed and signed Self-Certification Form from the applicant. The Federal Reserve Board’s Final Regulations published on August 14, 2009 incorporate this new requirement at 12 CFR 226.48(e).

The HEOA also added section 487(a)(28) to the HEA. Under section 487(a)(28), an institution participating in the HEA, Title IV programs must provide, at the request of an applicant for a private education loan, the self-certification form required under section 128(e)(3) of the TILA. The Department of Education’s Final Regulations published on October 28, 2009 incorporate this new requirement at 34 CFR 601.11(d) and 668.14(b)(29).

At the request of an enrolled or admitted student applicant for a private educational loan (or to the parent loan applicant of an enrolled or admitted student), an institution must provide the Self-Certification form to the applicant with the information requested in Section 2 of the form, to the extent that the institution possesses the information. Section 2 of the Self-Certification form requests the following information:

  • The student’s Cost of Attendance (COA) for the period of enrollment covered by the loan;
  • Any Estimated Financial Assistance (EFA) for the period of enrollment covered by the loan; and
  • The difference between the COA and EFA.

Implementation of the Private Education Loan Applicant Self-Certification Form

Beginning February 14, 2010, institutions are required to provide the Self-Certification form, and the information needed to complete the form, to an enrolled or admitted applicant (or to the parent applicant of an enrolled or admitted student) upon the applicant’s request for a private education loan Self-Certification form. An institution may post an exact copy (pdf) of the Self-Certification form on its Web site for applicants to download or it may provide a paper copy of the Self-Certification form directly to an applicant through its financial aid or other designated office.

Alternatively, the applicant may obtain a copy of the Self-Certification form from the private educational loan lender and submit it to the institution for completion or confirmation. An institution may also, at its option, provide the information needed to complete the form directly to a private educational lender. An institution is not required to track the status of the private education loan after providing the Self-Certification form to the applicant or to the private lender.


Private Education Loan Applicant Self-Certification Form
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In accordance with 34 CFR 668.14(b)(29)(ii), an institution must, upon the request of the applicant, discuss the availability of Federal, State, and institutional financial aid.

Important: Under Federal Reserve Board regulations, institutions that make loans to students or parents, including loans made under Title VII or Title VIII of the Public Service Health Act1, are generally considered private educational lenders and the loans an institution makes to students or parents are generally considered private education loans. Thus, when an institution is the private education lender it must complete and provide the Self-Certification Form to an applicant for an institutional private education loan. The institution must subsequently obtain the signed form from the applicant before consummating the private education loan. In some cases an institution may be making more than one private education loan to an applicant, for example, a loan made under Title VII or Title VIII of the Public Service Health Act and a private education loan funded by the institution or from donor directed contributions. In such cases, the institution can provide one Self-Certification form to the applicant. The institution should not include any private education loans that it is making to an enrolled applicant when determining the amount of estimated financial assistance to report in Section 2 of the Self-Certification form.

Printing Instructions

The Private Education Loan Applicant Self-Certification form, in both Microsoft Word and pdf format, is provided with this letter. Institutions and private education lenders are responsible for ensuring that the form they use is identical to the form approved by OMB. No changes may be made to the form except as expressly discussed below.

The enclosed Private Education Loan Applicant Self-Certification form must be printed by the institution (or lender) with black ink on white paper. The typeface, point size, and general presentation of the form may not be changed from the version approved by OMB. However, bold type in sections headings may be removed and bold or italic type may be added to the instructions. While institutions and lender’s may use any blank spaces at the top, bottom or sides of the form for bar coding or other institution/lender-specific information, such space may not be used to include the student’s (or parent’s) Social Security Number.

If you have questions regarding the information provided in this letter, please contact Gail McLarnon by phone at (202) 219-7048 or by mail at gail.mclarnon@ed.gov.

Sincerely,

Jeff Baker, Director
Policy Liaison and Implementation
Federal Student Aid

Enclosures



1 Consistent with provisions of the TILA, Federal Perkins Loans are not considered to be private educational loans even though they are made by the institution.