Loans

In order to have your loan application processed by the payment deadline, submit your loan application by:
Fall semester: July 1
Spring semester: December 1
Summer semester: May 1

Students can submit a BHC Loan Application (and all other requirements) as soon as registration opens.

If you don’t make your student loan payment or make your payment late, your loan will be considered delinquent and may eventually go into default. If you default on your student loan, that status will be reported to credit bureaus, and your credit rating and future borrowing ability will be damaged. In addition, legal action can be taken to require payment through garnishment of wages and withholding of tax refunds.

In addition, students with a defaulted loan will lose eligibility to receive any additional federal or state financial aid.

Repayment begins 6 months after graduating, withdrawing, or dropping to less than 6 credit hours. Additional information is available through Federal Student Aid: Understanding Repayment and Federal Student Aid: How to Repay Your Loans.

A loan servicer is a company that handles the billing and other services on your federal student loan. The loan servicer will work with you on repayment plans and loan consolidation and will assist you with other tasks related to your federal student loan. It is important to maintain contact with your loan servicer. If your circumstances change at any time during your repayment period, your loan servicer will be able to help.

Students should update their contact information with Federal Student Aid (FSA) at studentaid.gov/login to ensure their loan servicer has updated information.

Your Loan Servicer will contact you concerning repayment. You may also access your loan servicer information, as well as your loan history, on the National Student Loan Data System.

Loan borrowers are required to participate in Federal Loan Exit Counseling after graduating, withdrawing, or dropping to less than 6 credit hours, even if they intend transfer to another institution. Black Hawk College will email a notification with Exit Counseling information to your student email and personal email provided on that year’s FAFSA. (If no FAFSA was submitted, the personal email listed with the college will be used.)

You must cancel any pending loans at Black Hawk College and contact your new college to determine what requirements you need to complete.

Students should ALWAYS contact the Financial Aid Office BEFORE changing their schedule (adding or dropping classes) to determine how changes will impact their costs and financial aid.

Financial aid is based on attendance for the entire semester. If you drop ALL of your classes before 60% of the semester is complete, federal regulations require schools to recalculate your financial aid eligibility (including student loans) to determine how much was “earned”. Based on the last date of academic activity or participation, your financial aid will be adjusted accordingly, which may mean repaying some or all of your financial aid.

In addition, students are expected to complete 67% of their attempted coursework (see Satisfactory Academic Progress). Withdrawing from coursework may negatively impact your eligibility to continue receiving financial aid in the future. [TODO: Link to Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy]

Refunds are processed by the Bursar’s Office once a credit balance is created on your billing account. Refunds will be available approximately 14 days AFTER the credit balance is created. To avoid delays, students who anticipate receiving a refund should log into their account on www.refundselection.com to select a refund preference as soon as possible.

As stated in Federal Loan Guidelines, the actual loan amount you are eligible to receive for an academic year is determined by your school. Loan eligibility at Black Hawk College is determined on a case-by-case basis as authorized under 34 CFR 685.301(a)8 of the Higher Education Act. Maximum annual loan amounts are not guaranteed.

The maximum annual amounts a student may request are:

Approximately 10% of eligible students borrow at Black Hawk College. Of those who do borrow, the 2020-21 average federal student loan debt at time of graduation was $9,258.

We recommend students use the Federal Student Aid Repayment Calculator and the Mapping Your Future Debt/Salary Wizard to understand the long-term costs of borrowing and their anticipated ability to repay their student loans. For additional information, visit studentaid.gov/loans.

Black Hawk College will not solicit, accept or agree to accept anything of value from any lending institution, guarantee agency or servicer in exchange for any advantage or consideration provided by the Lending Institution related to its student loan activity.

This prohibition covers, but is not limited to:

• Revenue Sharing Agreements
• Any computer hardware which Black Hawk College pays below market prices
• Any computer software used to manage loans unless the software can manage disbursements from all lenders
• Any printing costs, postage or services

This does not prevent Black Hawk College from soliciting, accepting or agreeing to favorable terms and conditions where the benefit is made directly to student borrowers.

Black Hawk College will require and enforce that no officer, trustee, director, employee or agent of the college will accept anything more than a nominal value on his or her own behalf or on behalf of another during any 12-month period from, or on behalf of any lending institution, guarantee agency or servicer.

This prohibition will include, but not be limited to, a ban on any payment or reimbursement from any lending institution, guarantee agency or servicer to college employees for lodging, meals or travel to conferences or training seminars.

This does not preclude any officer, trustee, director, employee or agent of the college from receiving compensation for conducting non-college business with a lending institution, guarantee agency or servicer or from accepting compensation that is offered to the general public.

This prohibition does not prevent the college from holding membership in any nonprofit professional associations

No Black Hawk College employee involved in the affairs of the Financial Aid Office shall solicit or accept any gift from a lender, guarantor or servicer of education loans.

“Gifts” are defined as but not limited to:

• Any type of gratuity, favor, discount, entertainment, hospitality, loan or other item having more than a token monetary value. The term includes a gift of services, transportation, lodging or meals, whether provided in kind, by purchase of a ticket, payment in advance, or reimbursement after the expense has been incurred.

The following items would not be considered to be “gifts”:

• Standard material, activities or programs on issues related to a loan, default aversion, default prevention, or financial literacy, such as a brochure, workshop or training.
• Food, refreshments, training or informational material furnished to any officer, trustee, director or college employee, as an integral part of a training session that is designed to improve the service of a lender, guarantor or servicer of education loans to the institution, if such training contributes to the professional development of the officer, trustee, director or employee.
• Favorable terms, conditions and borrower benefits on an education loan provided to a student employed by the institution if such terms, conditions or benefits are comparable to those provided to all students of the institution.
• Entrance and exit counseling services provided to borrowers to meet the institution’s responsibilities for entrance and exit counseling as required as long as:
  • The institution’s staff are in control of the counseling (and)
  • Such counseling does not promote the products or services of any specific lender.
• Philanthropic contributions that are unrelated to education loans or any contribution not made in exchange for any advantage related to education loans.
• State education grants, scholarships or financial aid funds administered by or on behalf of a state.

Gifts to family members of any officer, trustee, director or college employee will be considered a gift to said any officer, trustee, director or college employee if:

• The gift is given with the knowledge and acquiescence of the officer, trustee, director or college employee (and)
• The officer, trustee, director or university employee has reason to believe the gift was given because of the official position of said officer, trustee, director or college employee.

Black Hawk College will require and enforce that no officer, trustee, director or employee of the college from receiving any remuneration for serving as a member or participant of an advisory board of any lending institution, guarantee agency or servicer or receiving any reimbursement of expenses from said participation.

This does not preclude any officer, trustee, director or employee from participating on any lender advisory board that are unrelated to student loans. This does not preclude any Black Hawk College employee not involved in the affairs of the Financial Aid Office from serving on the board of directors of a publicly traded or privately held company.

Any officer, trustee, director or employee is prohibited from accepting any payments of any kind from a lender in exchange for any type of consulting services related to educational loans.

• This does not prevent anyone else in the institution that has nothing to do with student loans from entering into these agreements.
• This does not prevent anyone not employed in the Financial Aid Office who has some responsibility for student loans from entering into these agreements if that individual in writing, recuse him or herself from any decision regarding educational loans.
• This does not prevent anybody from serving on a board of directors or trustee of an institution if the individual recuse him or herself from any decision regarding educational loans.

Black Hawk College will not enter any revenue sharing agreement where:

• A lender provides or issues a loan that is made, insured or guaranteed under this title to students attending the institution or to the families of such students; and
• The institution recommends the lender and in exchange the lender pays a fee or provides other material benefits.

Black Hawk College will not request or accept any agreement or offer of funds for private loans in exchange for concessions or promises of:

• A specified number of loans made, insured or guaranteed.
• A specified loan volume.
• A preferred lender arrangement.

Black Hawk College will not request or accept from any lender any assistance with call center staffing or financial aid office staffing. This does not include:

• Professional development training for financial aid administrators.
• Educational counseling materials, financial literacy materials or debt management materials to borrowers, provided that such materials disclose to borrowers the identification of any lender that assisted in preparing or providing such materials.
• Staffing services on a short-term, nonrecurring basis to assist the institution with financial aid-related functions during emergencies, including state-declared or federally declared natural disasters.

Black Hawk College does not have a preferred lender list.

• Black Hawk College will not assign, through award packaging or other methods, the borrower’s loan to a particular lender. The student will select their lender and notify Black Hawk College.
• Black Hawk College will not refuse to certify or delay certification of any loan based on the borrower’s selection of a particular lender or guaranty agency.