Errors prompt premature billing

By A. Jeter
The Metropolitan

Most students who take out loans to pay for their college education arenāt worried about having to pay the debt while in school.  Almost all educational lenders allow students to defer payments.

But some Metro students are surprised when they get bills for their loans. This happens when some loan agencies donāt get some studentsā enrollment information.   They  assume these students have graduated or dropped out of school.

Many reasons exist for lenders not getting student information: high volume of students who take out loans, late registration and incomplete paperwork.

The National Student Loan Clearing House of Virginia gets enrollment information from Metro three times per semester ÷ at the beginning and middle of the term and after finals, said Vince Baldassano of the Metroās Registrar Office.

Their system is computerized and handles loan information for about 5,000 Metro students each semester, said Mary Anne Romero, Metroās financial aid director. Metro uses the clearing house so it doesnāt have to contend with dispersing information to multiple lenders and services.

Students should completely fill out all loan paperwork on time to guard against problems, Baldassano said. It usually takes about 10 business days to report information from the clearing house to the lenders.

Baldassano said he is not sure how many students get stuck with premature loan notices, but there are ways to deal with the problem if it arises.

Students still in school asked to repay loans should see the registrar or a financial aid counselor. Both offices have software that will show the studentās deferment status. The clearing house also provides a confirmation report to the school noting the information it received.

The clearing house also has a Web site (http://www.nslc.org/) to answer most questions about student loans and deferments.

Customer service representatives can be reached at (703) 742-7791.

Speed is of the essence when resolving an early bill. Students are advised not to throw away billing notices or wait too long to address them. Students who wait more than 150 days to address the situation might be classified as defaulting on their loan and could face much more serious implications, such as a poor credit rating.

But despite the problems, the system is a vast improvement over manual sending, Baldassano said. Metro used to do all the enrollment information reporting on paper by hand.

ćI donāt want to be throwing out the baby with the bath water,ä Baldassano said. ćIt needs work, but itās a good system.ä