Grace-Period Follow-Up Steps

  • Send at least two letters during the grace period to all students who have received Federal Stafford loans.
  • The purpose of the letters is to help ensure that borrowers begin repayment on time and are informed of the options available if they are unable to begin or continue to make payments on a timely basis.
  • Keep copies of all letters mailed during the borrower's grace period in the borrower's financial-aid file. All letters should be mailed in envelopes stamped "Forwarding and Address Correction Requested."
  • All letters should provide a date by which the student-borrower must reply, which is two weeks from the day the letters were sent. The financial-aid administrator will contact borrowers who do not reply. All telephone contact should be documented.
  • Letters returned unopened should be researched for more-current contact information.
  • If a current address is not obtained, send letters to all references and parent addresses in an effort to contact the borrower. Make a follow-up phone call to the references in a continued effort to find the borrower.
  • Update school records with new information regarding the student's address, telephone number, e-mail address, and advise the borrower's lender of new information received.
  • Select appropriate letters according to the student's status.
  • See sample grace-period letters.