Student Loans
To receive CES support, you must take out an annual student as an investment in your own education.
Why Take Out a Student Loan
As a condition for receiving CES support, MHS requires you to borrow a $2,500 Direct Loan every year as your personal investment in your own education. “Direct Loans” are low-interest loans from the U.S. Department of Education. Most MHS graduates qualify for a type of loan called a Direct Subsidized Loan.
How Your College Offers Loans
Every year after you complete your college’s financial aid process you’ll receive an Award Offer listing the aid sources for which you qualify (grants, scholarships, loans, work study employment).
If your award offer includes loans, the college will hold that part of your aid until you respond to their offer.
Responding to Your College’s Award Offer
Many college web portals are set up so you can respond to your Award Offer directly online. Sometimes a college will use another method of responding.
Take the following actions:
- Direct Loan (Loan1): Partially accept by reducing the amount to $2,500 for the year unless GPS notifies you otherwise ($1,250/semester, $833/trimester or $625/quarter). Loan1 is usually a Subsidized Loan, but could be an Unsubsidized Loan depending on your financial circumstances.
- Direct Unsubsidized Loan (Loan2): Totally cancel/decline this extra $2,000 student loan.
Since federal law requires colleges to offer you more than $2,500 in loans each year if you qualify for it, you must be extremely careful to respond to your Award Offer as directed by GPS. If you borrow more loans than MHS requires, YOU will need to pay off these extra loans after college.
The bottom line is you need to borrow a $2,500 Direct Loan every year as an investment in your own education unless GPS notifies you otherwise.
Example: Even if your college offered you (and you accepted) the amounts in column 2, the maximum CES could help to repay is your MHS-required amount in column 3:
|
Year in college |
Direct Loan (Loan1) Amount Offered By College |
MHS-required Direct (Loan1) Amount |
|
Year 1 |
$3,500 |
$2,500 |
|
Year 2 |
$4,500 |
$2,500 |
|
Year 3 |
$5,500 |
$2,500 |
|
Year 4 |
$5,500 |
$2,500 |
|
Total |
$19,000 |
$10,000 |
|
MHS could repay* |
$10,000 |
$10,000 |
|
You would repay |
$9,000 |
$0 |
*if CES funds remaining
Repaying Loans After College
To be considered for CES support to help repay your loans, you must finish your degree within 6 years of starting.
If you have CES funds remaining when you finish your post-secondary degree, MHS will help you repay up to the amount that you had to borrow as a condition for receiving CES (usually $2,500 per year of enrollment).
Since you must personally repay anything more, do not borrow extra unless it is your only option for affording school expenses not covered by CES.
More Details About CES
Accessing Your CES
Follow the annual CES application steps and meet the standards to remain eligible throughout college.
