Part of your financial aid package for the 2009-2010 academic year at St. Lawrence University may include the offer of a Federal Direct Stafford Loan (please review your 2009-2010 financial aid award notification to see if you have been offered a Federal Direct Stafford Loan). The following information will assist you with the process of completing and signing your promissory note, and completing the mandatory entrance counseling.

Some important information about your Federal Stafford Loan:

• You must complete all steps outlined below before Federal Direct Stafford Loan funds can be disbursed to your student account.
• You may decline or reduce the amount of your Federal Direct Stafford Loan. If you wish to decline or reduce your Federal Direct Stafford Loan please contact the St. Lawrence University Financial Aid Office by calling 800-355-0863, or e-mailing finaid@stlawu.edu.
• All new Federal Direct Stafford Loan borrowers are required to complete the mandatory Federal Stafford Loan Entrance Counseling. Please log on to www.dl.ed.gov/ to complete this requirement. St. Lawrence University will receive confirmation from Direct Loan Servicer that you have completed this requirement. Your Federal Direct Stafford Loan funds cannot be disbursed until you complete your Entrance Counseling.

Step 1. Sign Your Master Promissory Note: For students who are offered and accept a Federal Direct Stafford Loan as part of their financial aid package, the application process is straight forward.  You will be required to fill out a single Master Promissory Note (MPN) for your Stafford Loan(s). It is your responsibility to review all terms and conditions of the loan, as well as to complete the MPN. You will need to go to dlenote.ed.gov and select “Complete New MPN for Student Loans”, then click on “Subsidized/Unsubsidized”.

Your MPN will be completed in 9 steps. The U.S. Department of Education estimates that it will take you approximately 30 minutes to complete the electronic MPN process.  Make sure you allow enough time to complete the entire process in a single session. If you exit the e-MPN web site before submitting your signed MPN in Step 8 and return later, you'll have to start over beginning with Step 1.

Step 2. Complete Entrance Counseling: As a condition of receiving your first Federal Direct Stafford Loan, all first time borrowers must complete student loan "entrance counseling". Entrance counseling needs to be completed on-line at www.dl.ed.gov/. Per Federal regulations, Federal Direct Stafford Loan proceeds will not disburse until this entrance counseling session is completed. This entrance counseling session will inform the borrower about the overall Federal Direct Stafford Loan program and their rights and responsibilities. St. Lawrence University will receive the results of this completed session electronically.

The U.S. Department of Education offers the following websites to assist in the planning for repayment of Federal educational loans:

Loan Repayment Information for Federal loans