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Important Information About the Student Loan Interest Freeze

The student loan interest freeze implemented by the President of the United States only applies to loans that are directly held by the Department of Education. If you make your loan payments to UW-Eau Claire, your loan is NOT directly held by the Department of Education. Therefore, an interest freeze and an automatic forbearance will not be applied to your student loan(s). You are required to continue making your student loan payments as scheduled.

If you are experiencing financial hardship, you may be eligible for an Economic Hardship Deferment, Unemployment Deferment or Forbearance for your Perkins loan(s) depending on your circumstance.  Please contact Loan Services for further details at loans@uwec.edu.

If you would like to take advantage of the loan interest freeze benefit and currently have a Federal Perkins loan serviced by the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, you may consolidate your Federal Perkins Loan into a Direct Consolidation Loan held by the Department of Education.  Please note that you may lose certain loan benefits if you consolidate a Federal Perkins Loan.  For more information about Direct Loan Consolidation go to: .

Perkins Loan Services Information

NOTE: After the 2017-2018 academic year, we can no longer offer Perkins Loans as part of a student's financial aid package. We will, however, continue to service existing Perkins Loans.

To access your Perkins loan account online: . For assistance accessing your account contact loans@uwec.edu or 715-836-4817 .

Perkins Loan Exit Interview

If you received a Perkins Loan while enrolled at UW-Eau Claire, you must complete an exit interview when you become enrolled for less than half-time credits at UW-Eau Claire. If this status is a result of graduation from UW-Eau Claire, you will be sent an email during the last month of your graduating semester explaining how to complete your exit interview online.

If you withdraw from UW-Eau Claire, transfer to another school, or drop below half-time credits (from UW-Eau Claire) for any other reason, you must complete an exit interview. Stop by Blugold Central and ask for Loan Services in Vicki Lord Larson, room 1108, to inform us of this status change. If you cannot come to our office contact us at loans@uwec.edu or 715-836-4817 and we will provide instruction for completing your exit interview online.

Once you leave the university we will place a hold on your account preventing future registration and records requests until you complete the exit interview.

General

• Applicable Law. All sums advanced under this note are drawn from a fund created under Part E of Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (hereinafter called the Act), and are subject to the Act and the Federal regulations issued under the Act. The terms of this note shall be interpreted in accordance with the Act and Federal regulations, copies of which are to be kept by the Institution.
• Procedures for receiving deferment, cancellation, or forbearance. I understand that to receive a deferment, cancellation, or forbearance, I must request the deferment, cancellation, or forbearance in writing from the Institution, and must submit to the Institution any documentation required by the Institution to prove that I qualify for the deferment, cancellation, or forbearance. I further understand that if I am eligible for deferment, cancellation, or forbearance under Articles VI through XIV, I am responsible for submitting the appropriate requests on time. I further understand that I may lose my deferment, cancellation, and forbearance benefits if I fail to file my request on time.

Interest

Interest shall accrue from the beginning of the repayment period and shall be at the ANNUAL PERCENTAGE RATE OF FIVE PERCENT (5%) on the unpaid balance, except that no interest shall accrue during any deferment period described in Article VII.

Repayment

• I promise to repay the principal and interest that accrues on it to the Institution over a period beginning nine (9) months after the date I cease to be at least a half-time regular student at an institution of higher education, or at a comparable institution outside the United States approved for this purpose by the United States Secretary of Education (hereinafter called the Secretary), and ending ten (10) years later, unless that period is [shortened under paragraph III (5)], or extended under paragraphs III (4), III (7) (extensions), VII (1), or VII (3) deferments.
• Upon my written request, the repayment period may start on a date earlier than the one indicated in paragraph III (1).
• I promise to repay the principal and interest over the course of the repayment period in equal monthly, bimonthly, or quarterly installments, as determined by the Institution. I understand that if my installment payment for all the loans made to me by the Institution is not a multiple of $5, the Institution may round the payment to the next highest dollar amount that is a multiple of $5.
• Notwithstanding paragraph III (3) (A), upon my written request, repayment may be made in graduated installments in accordance with a schedule approved by the Secretary.
• Notwithstanding paragraph III (1), if I qualify as a low-income individual during the repayment period, the Institution, upon my written request, may extend the repayment period for up to an additional ten (10) years and may adjust any repayment schedule to reflect my income.
• If the monthly rate that would be established under paragraph III (1), or the total monthly repayment rate of principal and interest on all my Federal Perkins Loans, including this loan, is less than $40 per month, I shall repay the principal and interest on this loan at the rate of $40 per month (which includes both principal and interest).
• If I have received Federal Perkins Loans from other institutions and the total monthly repayment rate on those loans is less than $40, the $40 monthly payment established under subparagraph III (5) (A) includes the amounts I owe on all my outstanding Federal Perkins Loans, including those received from other institutions. The portion of the $40 monthly payment that will be applied to this loan will be the difference between $40 and the total of the amounts owed at a monthly rate on my other Federal Perkins Loans.
• The Institution may permit me to pay less than the rate of $40 per month for a period of not more than one (1) year where necessary to avoid hardship to me unless that action would extend the repayment period in paragraph III (1).
• The Institution may, upon my written request, reduce any scheduled repayments or extend the repayment period indicated in paragraph III (1) if, in its opinion, circumstances such as prolonged illness or unemployment prevent me from making the scheduled payments. However, interest shall continue to accrue.

Prepayment

• I may, at my option and without penalty, prepay all or any part of the principal, plus any accrued interest thereon, at any time.
• Amounts I repay in the academic year in which the loan was made and the initial grace period has not ended will be used to reduce the amount of the loan and will not be considered a prepayment.
• If I repay amounts during the academic year in which the loan was made and the initial grace period ended, only those amounts in excess of the amount due for any repayment period shall be considered a prepayment.
• If, in an academic year other than the award year in which the loan was made, I repay more than the amount due for installment, the excess will be used to repay principal unless I designate it as an advance payment of the next regular installment.