The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved a new Private Education Loan Applicant Self-Certification form (Self-Certification form). This newly approved form does not contain any substantive changes from the prior Self-Certification form that had an expiration date of February 28, 2013. The new Self-Certification form is available for use immediately and may be accessed from the Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) GEN-13-15 where it was provided as an attachment to the DCL. The older, expired form has still been accepted thus far even though the expiration date had passed. ED states that it may continue to be distributed by schools through June 30, 2013, and may be accepted through July 31, 2013. After these dates, all schools that distribute the Self-Certification form must use the newly released version that became available on June 12, 2013. The new form has an expiration date of May 31, 2016.
The Self-Certification form has been a requirement for schools since February 14, 2010. It is applicable to situations when a student chooses to apply for a non-Federal private education loan. The law requires that when a student (enrolled or admitted) applies for a private education loan, the school must provide the Self-Certification form to the applicant along with the specific requested information, to the extent the school possesses that information. The detailed information that the school must provide for Section 2 of the form includes:
- The student’s Cost of Attendance (COA) for the period of enrollment to be covered by the loan;
- Any Estimated Financial Assistance (EFA) for the period of enrollment to be covered by the loan; and
- The difference between the COA and EFA.
Schools are required to ensure that the form they provide a student is identical to the one ED provided with the DCL,with very limited exceptions detailed in the DCL. Also,schools may not use any blank space in the margins (top,bottom, or sides) to include the student’s or parent’s Social Security Number.
If you have any questions regarding this information, please contact your Customer Service Representatives via support.fameinc.com.
