| AwardYear: 1997-1998 EnterChapterNo: 11 EnterChapterTitle: William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program SectionNumber: SectionTitle: Appendix: Type of Academic Year/Frequency for Annual Loan Limits PageNumbers: 83-87 Appendix: Type of Academic Year/Frequency for Annual Loan Limits In determining the frequency for annual Direct Loan limits, the type of academic year a school uses is important: a standard academic year (SAY) or a borrower-based academic year (BBAY). Only term- based programs can use SAYs. Nonterm programs must use BBAYs. If a program at a term-based school contains fewer than 30 weeks of instructional time (unless the Department grants a waiver for an academic year of less than 30 weeks), the school must use only SAYs for borrowers in that program. STANDARD ACADEMIC YEAR An SAY is a fixed period of time that generally begins and ends at the same time each calendar year (for example, beginning on the first day of the fall semester and ending on the last day of the spring semester). An SAY must meet the statutory requirements of an academic year, as described in Chapter 2. For a program that uses SAYs, a summer term may be part of the academic year that preceded that term (that is, it may be a "trailer"), or it may be part of the academic year that follows that term (that is, it may be a "leader"). The school can - use a strict policy that summer terms are always trailers or leaders, - determine whether a summer term is a trailer or leader on a program-by-program basis, or - determine whether a summer term is a trailer or leader on a case- by-case basis. Summer mini-sessions can be grouped as a trailer or leader, or they can be treated separately and assigned to different SAYs. If the summer mini-sessions are grouped and treated as a single term, the summer cost of attendance cannot include costs for a mini-session for which the student was not enrolled. Making Loans for Standard Academic Years A student's loan period does not have to include all academic terms in an SAY. The total of all loans borrowed within an SAY cannot exceed the student's annual loan limit for his or her grade level. A student may receive more than one loan during an SAY if - after receiving the first loan, he or she has loan eligibility remaining for that SAY, - he or she progresses to a grade level with a higher annual loan limit, or - his or her dependency status changes from dependent to independent during the academic year. BORROWER-BASED ACADEMIC YEAR A school must use a BBAY for a nonterm program. For a term program - a school may choose to use a BBAY if the school's defined academic year meets the minimum statutory requirements of an academic year, as described in Chapter 2; - a school may use BBAYs for all its students or just for students enrolled in certain programs, or it may use BBAYs on a student- by-student basis; - a school may alternate BBAYs with SAYs for a student if the academic years do not overlap; - the starting date of the BBAY depends on a student's attendance and progression in his or her degree or certificate program; - the BBAY's length must equal the number of terms in the school's defined academic year (not including any summer trailer or leader); - the number of hours or weeks in the BBAY does not have to meet the 30-week minimum academic year if the BBAY includes a summer term; - the BBAY may include terms and/or mini-sessions the student does not attend if the student could have enrolled at least half time in those terms or mini-sessions; - mini-sessions (summer or otherwise) that run consecutively must be combined and treated as a single term. If a school has a choice of academic year standards for its term-based programs, it must have a written policy that explains how it applies these options when calculating loan eligibility. Making Loans for Borrower-Based Academic Years For a nonterm program, a student may not receive an additional loan until he or she completes the minimum number of weeks and credit or clock hours in an academic year. For a term program, the total of all loans a student receives during a BBAY cannot exceed the annual loan limit for the student's grade level. A student may receive more than one loan during a BBAY if - after receiving the first loan, he or she has loan eligibility remaining for that BBAY, - he or she progresses to a grade level with a higher annual loan limit, or - his or her dependency status changes from dependent to independent during the academic year. |