Fall and Spring Interim Break FAQs

Financial Aid for the additional costs of the Exploration Seminar is only available in the form of “Student Loans.” There are no additional grants or scholarships available for the additional costs of an Exploration Seminar. Federal Direct Subsidized/Unsubsidized Loan is only available if you have completed a FAFSA for the school year and you have not already taken your maximum loan amounts for the fall/spring semesters. If you have exhausted the Federal Direct Subsidized/Unsubsidized loans your loan options would either be a Private Loan or a Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loan that a parent can take out on behalf of their student. Both Private Loans and Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loans require that the borrower and co-borrow (if applicable) meet the loan programs credit worthy requirements. Borrowers can take up to the cost of the Exploration Seminar plus $350 in additional funds to cover personal expenses. Contact Global Learning if you have questions about the specific cost of your program.

Loan applications should be completed by December 14 in order for the funds to be here in time for the January billing.

A private loan is a loan program that is credit-based and requires approval of the application through an outside lender, like a bank or agency. These loan programs will require in almost all cases a student to have a credit worthy co-signer. A co-signer is someone who is signing on the loan with you and is also someone that would assume responsibility to pay the loan back if you, as the borrower, were not making payments.

Concordia does not endorse any one lender over another. The choice of which private loan program you may choose to borrow from is entirely up to you. To assist you in finding a private loan you can view a Listing of Private Loan Lenders available through the Concordia College Financial Aid website.

You can also choose to borrow from a lender that is not on this list, and Concordia will process that loan in the same time frame as any other private loan.

1. Find someone that is willing and able to co-sign for you.
2. View the “List of Lenders” by going to the Concordia Financial Aid site or use the direct link listed above.
3. Choose the lender/loan program that you would like to apply for.
4. Complete the application on the lender’s website. If you are using a lender that is on the list provided by the college, there will be an “Apply Here” link next to the loan lender that will take you to their process.
5. Make sure that you follow the lenders application instructions so that you don’t miss any of the necessary steps in the application process.

A Federal Direct Parent PLUS loan is a loan that is in the Parent’s name on behalf of the student, meaning the parent is the sole borrower. This loan does, however, require that a student has completed a FAFSA for the academic year in order for the school to process the loan. The Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loan is based on credit so the parent must be credit-approved to be eligible. This loan has a fixed interest rate of 7.9% and a 4% origination fee that is deducted from the loan at the time of disbursement. (Example: $1000 loan X .96 = disbursement amount of $960). The Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loan repayment begins 60 days after the loan has been fully disbursed unless the parent borrower contacts the loan servicer to make arrangements to defer the loan.

If a parent is denied for a Federal Direct Parent loan, a student may be eligible for an additional Unsubsidized Direct Loan, if the student has not already used this additional eligibility during the academic year of the Exploration Seminar.

1. Parent completes the application by logging in to the Federal Student Aid website using their parental FAFSA PIN. If parent does not have a PIN or cannot remember the PIN, the parent can go to www.pin.ed.gov to request this information.
2. Parent selects “Request a Direct PLUS Loan” to complete the loan request and credit check.
3. If the loan is approved and this is the first Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loan the parent has taken for the student, they must continue on to complete the Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loan Master Promissory Note.

If you have questions on your specific financial aid situation or loan options, you can contact the Financial Aid Office at 218.299.3010 or finaid@cord.edu to ask questions or to schedule an appointment to meet with someone.