What to Expect While in School

While you are in school and enrolled at least half-time, you don't have to make any student loan payments, and you can focus on your studies. It is important to work with your school's financial aid office and keep up with deadlines or other requirements.

If your loans have a standard, six-month grace period, your first payment will be due approximately six months after you graduate or drop to below half-time enrollment. Learn more about the Life Cycle of a Student Loan.

Know What You Owe

1. Access your Edfinancial Services account information 24/7 by registering for  your online account. The registration process is very brief and requires you to input your social security number and date of birth to create a secure online account.
2. See if you have loans serviced by any other servicers by visiting https://studentaid.gov. You will need your FSA ID to access the information. If you don't have an FSA ID you can request one while you're on this site.
3. Get organized and keep all your student loan documents together - before and after graduation.

Stay in Touch

Address change? New phone number? Newly married? Transferred to a different school? Edfinancial will need to know about any changes so that we can send you periodic updates detailing your outstanding balance, payment due dates, etc.

Contact Us

Leaving School Early

If you decide to take a break from school or fall below half-time enrollment, any student loans that you have will enter their grace period, unless grace has been exhausted. If this is the case the loan(s) will enter repayment. Consider all of your options and talk with your academic advisor, financial aid counselor, and student loan servicer(s) to find out the effects of leaving school early.

What to Expect While in Your Grace Period

A grace period is the time in between graduation (or a drop below half-time enrollment) and the time your first payment is due. This six-month period of time allows you to adjust to life after college and find employment. You are not required to make payments during this time, but if you can afford it, making even small payments can save you interest and lower the total cost of your loans.

After you leave school, it’s important to understand how your student loan payment can affect your finances so choosing the repayment plan that works best for you should be a top priority. You will have the option to explore repayment plans and choose the plan that best suits your needs when you complete loan exit counseling, but feel free to contact us at 855-337-6884 and one of our friendly customer service representatives will help you find the right plan.

Create Your Online Account

You may view your loan information and make payments online through  your online account. You must first register as a new user and log in to your online account to access your information.

After selecting a repayment plan, you will be able to view your repayment schedule in your online account. This document will provide important details about repayment including your due date, monthly payment amount, amount of interest to be repaid, etc.

In addition to viewing your repayment schedule, your online account will allow you to make a payment, view your loan details, update your demographics, explore repayment options, and much more.

Sign up for Electronic Correspondence

You can sign up for electronic correspondence in  your online account. Once you read and agree to the Terms and Conditions, you will begin receiving your correspondence electronically! We will send courtesy emails to the email address on file for your account to alert you when there are new statements and other important correspondence regarding your account.

What to Expect While in Repayment

If your loans have a standard, six-month grace period, your first payment will be due approximately six months after you graduate or drop to below half-time enrollment. Make sure Edfinancial has all of your current contact information and explore the different repayment plans and how to make your payments.

Learn more about repayment

How to Make Payments

There are multiple ways to make a payment. Consider registering for Auto Pay, Edfinancial's automatic-debit payment program, in  your online account. With Auto Pay, your student loan payments are automatically debited from your checking or savings account each month. Auto Pay may also reduce your interest rate!

Repayment Options

You will generally have up to ten years to repay your federal student loan, but you may be eligible to extend your repayment term up to 25 years or repay your loans based on your income. There are also several options available to temporarily postpone repayment if you meet certain requirements. You can read more about these options below, or if any of these look like they may work for you, give us a call at 855-337-6884 and one of our friendly customer service representatives will help you determine if that is the best plan for you.

• Repayment Plans
• Deferment and Forbearance Options

You can also log into  your online account to explore various repayment options.

Trouble Making Payments?

Various repayment plans are available to help you manage your student loan debt. If you are having trouble making payments, there are options, such as Income-Driven Repayment Plans, which are designed to reduce your monthly payment amount. In general, the lower your monthly payment, the more interest you will pay over the life of your loan(s). Student loans accrue interest on a daily basis, so the longer you take to pay it back, the more interest you will accrue.

Our customer service representatives will help you determine the best plan for you and help you apply for your new repayment plan. You may also log into  your online account to explore various repayment options and to see if you qualify for a reduced payment.

Federal Parent PLUS Loans

The Federal Parent PLUS Loan is for parents of dependent students and is based on credit worthiness. Under this loan program, parents may borrow up to the cost of education at a particular institution minus any financial aid a student receives.

PLUS Loan Repayment

A Parent PLUS Loan is made directly to the dependent student’s school under the parent’s name, not the student, so responsibility for repayment rests with the parent. Repayment begins within 60 days of the final loan disbursement, unless you choose to postpone repayment while the student is in school at least half-time. Typically a Parent PLUS loan is repaid within ten years, but you may be eligible to extend your repayment term up to 25 years depending on your total outstanding balance.

Learn more about PLUS loans

Deferment Options for Parent PLUS Loans

When the benefitting student of the PLUS loan you obtained is enrolled at least half-time at a Title IV school, you can request to have your PLUS loan put on a deferment. The deferment would be applied to place your payments on hold for the duration of the student's enrollment, as long as they continue to be enrolled at least half-time.

As an added benefit, you may also request a six-month post-enrollment deferment after the benefitting student drops below half-time enrollment and/or graduates.*

* For loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2008

Give us a call at 855.337.6884 or email freshstart@edfinancial.com to see if you qualify for these deferments and have them applied to your account today!