• Loans allow you to postpone paying a portion of your education costs until you complete your education or have a change in circumstances.
• Loan repayments are based on a five- to 10-year plan, usually beginning six to nine months after you graduate, drop to less than half-time enrollment, or leave school.
• Some loans offer multiple repayment options.

The National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) maintains cumulative records for Direct, Stafford, and Perkins loans. A borrower’s loan information will be available to loan servicers, guarantee agencies, lenders, and other institutions authorized to access this information. All loans are reported to the national credit bureaus.

Promissory notes

Loan obligations are described in the promissory notes you will be required to sign if you should choose to borrow. Please read these obligations carefully. Be sure you understand all rights and responsibilities before accepting a loan. Also if you wish to cancel, reduce, or modify your loan award, you must contact SFS. (See Revisions to Your Offer of Financial Assistance.)

Viewing your loans online

Did you know that you can view your federal loans online? Visit the National Student Loan Data System, and log in with your federal PIN. (Note: Federal nursing loans are not included.)

SPU code of conduct for student loans

SPU officers, employees, and agents of SPU who have loan-related responsibilities uphold the following items required by federal regulation:

• SPU does not and will not assign alternative loan lenders to any borrowers; borrowers have the right and ability to select any alternative loan lender of their choice, regardless of whether they are included in the SPU alternative loan lender list. Further, SPU will certify loans from any alternative loan lender selected by the borrower.
• SPU does not accept private loans conditioned upon using the lender for federal loans.
• SPU does not and will not receive revenue or enter into revenue-sharing arrangements with lenders.
• SPU employees do not and will not accept gifts of more than nominal value from lenders, guarantors, and loan servicers.
• SPU employees do not accept from a lender, or affiliate of a lender, any fee, payment, or other financial benefit as compensation for any type of consulting arrangement or contract to provide services to or on behalf of a lender relating to education loans.
• SPU employees do not currently serve on any lending institution’s advisory board. When and if SFS employees do sit on an advisory board, they are prohibited from receiving anything of value for serving.
• SPU does not participate in opportunity pools with lenders. (Opportunity pool is defined as a private education loan made by a lender to a student, or the student’s family, that involves a payment by the institution to the lender for extending credit to the student.)
• SPU does not and will not allow lenders to identify themselves as employees of SPU; SPU does not allow employees of lenders to work in or provide staffing for SFS.
• SPU prohibits lenders from branding any loans with the identifying markings of SPU.