Syracuse Law Financial Aid is committed to helping students understand their loans and develop a successful repayment strategy.  We have created several tools to help you keep track of all the details:

• Six Things You Should Know About Federal Student Loan Repayment – simplifies loan repayment

• Loan Repayment Strategy Guide – details about all the options

• Questions and Answers – a summary of common Q&A

Things to consider while you are in-school:

• Interest accrues on the Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan and Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loan starting upon the first day of disbursement.
• Federal Direct Loan payments are not required while borrowers are enrolled full-time or half-time, however, borrowers may elect to make interest-only or full-payments while in-school.
• Unpaid interest on the Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan and Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loan will be capitalized when the borrower goes into repayment.  Again, no payments are required while in-school, but borrowers who elect to payments while enrolled could save money over the life of the loan.  Additionally, borrowers may prepay all or any part of the balance of their loans at any time without penalty.

Making interest payments while in-school:

To keep track of the interest that accrues while you are in-school, or to make payments while you are in-school, log onto your Loan Servicer's website. If you don't know the name or website of your servicer, log onto StudentLoans.gov using your Federal Student Aid ID (FSA ID).

• Loan servicers typically send borrowers quarterly interest statements.
• If you choose to make an interest payment while in-school you may continue to do so throughout your enrollment, however, you are not obligated to continue making interest payments while in-school if it is not affordable.