University of Technology, Sydney

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International Students

Terminology

The following links are helpful in deciphering some of the specific terminology and acronyms related to UTS and to US Financial Aid.

Participants

Several entities are intricately involved in the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP):

  • The US Federal Government has authority over Direct Loans and establishes rules and regulations governing the administration of the loans.
  • The student is the borrower of the money under the Direct Loans guidelines.
  • The Financial Aid staff at the University of Technology, Sydney works with you and your parents to determine eligibility based on federal guidelines for different types of financial aid such as scholarships and loans. The US Financial Aid staff also certifies or approves your federal loan application and the amount you can borrow.
  • A guarantor traditionally assists the US Department of Education (ED) to insure private lenders against the risk of default on college loans. If you do not repay your loan, the guarantor will repay the lender with funds received from the federal government and collect the balance directly from you. UTS chose to partner with ASA, prior to Direct Loan availability because they helped borrowers manage their higher education debt by providing counseling and education throughout the borrower's entire loan experience. ASA also had an extensive foreign university division to respond to questions from US student studying abroad.
  • A lender actually provides the funds. The lender may be the US Department of Education, a bank or other financial institution that sends the cheque or transfers funds to the university. If the lender sells your loan to another party, you will be notified of the new loan holder.
  • The university determines and certifies student eligibility for Direct loans, provides loan counselling for student borrowers, delivers loan proceeds to students (having first paid any balance due on your student account), reports enrolments and other information about Direct Loan borrowers, and complies with US laws and regulations governing the program.
  • A servicer is a company contracted by a lender to administer the loan. This includes collecting payments, corresponding with borrowers, recording address changes and updatings loan statuson behalf of the lender. You should be familiar with the name of your servicer as it may be the source of vital communication concerning your loan.