Frequently Asked Questions - NJCLASS Fixed Rate Loan for Graduate/Professional Students

Why do I need a User ID and Password?

To help mitigate fraud, HESAA requires all parties to the application to have their own User ID and password. Each borrower on the application must pass an authentication process in order to sign their application. The User ID and Password also enables the borrower to access their accounts with HESAA.

1. Click on the "Register" button from the HESAA home page.
2. Create your user id profile, and choose your login/user ID and a password.
3. Return to the home page and click the "Login" button, then enter your login/user id and password.

I get an error when I try to select my school in the student/borrower page.

If the screen does not come up to select your school, or if you get an error when you try to click on the link to select your school, the most likely reason is there is pop-up blocking software on your computer that is preventing the school window from displaying. Please turn pop-up blocking software off (allow pop-ups from www.hesaa.org) in order to resolve this issue.

You will also need to have pop-up blocking software turned off in order to print your completed application and promissory note.

Enter your user ID and click "Forget Password or Forget User ID?".

Yes. The NJCLASS Graduate/Professional Fixed Rate Loan does not allow others to borrow on behalf of the student. If you would like this option, please apply for NJCLASS Xpress Program.

Can the Student be the Borrower if the student has no income?

Unlike other alternative loans on the market, the interest rate is not dependent upon your credit-rating or the presence of a cosigner.

The NJCLASS Graduate/Professional Fixed Rate Loan program does not use a credit-scoring model. Instead, we consider any applicant with a satisfactory credit history, including students who have no history ("credit-ready").

Applicants with a history of delinquent credit accounts (including previous NJCLASS loans), bankruptcies, nonmedical judgment or collection accounts, should apply for the NJCLASS Xpress Loan program with an eligible cosigner.

This law established in 1968 is designed to protect consumers in certain credit transactions by requiring clear disclosure of key terms of the lending arrangement and all costs associated with the loan. The sole purpose of TILA is to promote the informed use of consumer credit, by requiring disclosures about its terms, and standardizing the manner in which costs associated with borrowing are calculated and disclosed. It is important to note that this law does not regulate the costs or charges associated with a loan; it just requires that this information is disclosed to the borrower in a timely fashion.

Usury Interest rates are excessively high. Usury laws are state laws that specify the maximum legal interest rate at which loans can be made.

The Federal Government requires you to submit information regarding the cost of attendance and expected financial aid. You will be asked to complete a Federal Private Education Loan Applicant Self-Certification during this application process. You will need to know the cost of attendance for the period of enrollment covered by this loan and the estimated financial assistance you will be receiving. The difference between these two items is your loan amount. You can obtain this information from the Financial Aid office at your school. The purpose of this form is to ensure that the student/borrower is aware of the costs associated with attending their school, and the amount of loans that may be necessary.

The cost of attendance is an estimation of the total amount it will cost a student to attend a particular school for a specific period of enrollment. The cost of attendance usually includes tuition, fees, room and board, books and supplies, and other expenses.

Your Estimated Financial Assistance is your financial aid package before the NJCLASS loan. You should include Federal and State student aid and any scholarships you've been awarded. Your financial aid office can provide this number to you if you still unsure of your aid package.

This is the academic year, academic term (such as semester, trimester, or quarter) or the numbers of weeks of instructional time for which the applicant is requesting student financial assistance.

After we complete our review of your application documents, and have received the school's certification, we are ready to offer you the loan. New federal regulations require that lenders honor the terms and conditions of the loans they offer for 30 days. This gives borrowers time to review the loan terms and decide if they want the loan. If you want the loan, then accept the loan offer. If you've changed your mind and no longer wish to borrow, then decline the offer. If you take no action on the offer, it will expire, and the lender is no longer required to honor the terms and conditions contained in the original Loan Offer.

The three day right to rescind provides the borrower with a final opportunity to evaluate their need for the loan after acceptance and prior to the funds being disbursed. It is during this period that the borrower can rescind or cancel their loan application. If you rescind your loan, it will be cancelled. If you decide later that you need additional funds, you’ll need to reapply. There is no guarantee that the terms and conditions of the original offer will be available if you reapply.

The Annual Percentage Rate (APR) is the cost of credit expressed as a yearly rate including interest, and loan fees. This allows the borrower to compare loans; however the APR should not be confused with the actual note rate.

A pre-paid finance charge is any finance charge (other than interest) paid to the lender in cash or check or withheld from the loan proceeds used for processing and servicing the loan. The loan administration fee that is charged to NJCLASS borrowers is a prepaid finance charge.

The Amount Financed is the loan amount applied for less any pre-paid finance charges. For example, if the borrower’s loan is for $10,000 and the pre-paid finance charges are $200, the amount financed would be $9800.

A finance charge is any fee or charge representing the cost of credit, or the cost of borrowing. It includes not only interest but other charges as well, such as transaction fees.

The Federal Reserve Board uses this term to broadly categorize any loan that is not a Title-IV loan. A private education loan is a student loan independently financed and administered by a nonfederal lender. A private education loan is sometimes also referred to as an alternative or supplemental loan. NJCLASS is a supplemental loan program authorized through the State Legislature.

Title IV is part of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as Amended. It governs the administration of federal student financial aid programs in the United States. Title IV student aid includes the Federal Pell Grant Program, the Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG) Program, the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) Program, the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership (LEAP) Program, the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP), the Federal Work-Study (FWS) Program, the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program, the Federal Perkins Loan Program, the National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant (National SMART Grant) Program, and the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant Program.

Pre-approved means your loan has met HESAA’s minimum income and credit requirements. After the lender review is completed, a school certification request will be sent to your school. Once the school certification is complete you will receive a loan offer. In order to finalize your loan and have the funds disbursed, you must accept this loan offer within 30 days. If you do not accept your loan offer, it will expire and you will have to apply again.

Pursuant to P.L.2017 c.198, student beneficiaries first applying for a NJCLASS loan on or after August 8, 2017 will be subject to a loan limit. This is an aggregate per student loan limit, which will be increased annually for each academic year over the prior year by the regression-based index value of the Higher Education Price Index. The loan limit does not apply to students who have previously received NJCLASS loans prior to August 8, 2017 or who applied for their current loans prior to August 8, 2017.

Public Law 2017 c.198 also added requirements regarding the maximum annual loan amounts for a student borrower. To determine the maximum annual loan amount the total federal subsidized Direct loan amount available to the student has always been deducted from the NJCLASS loan amount. The new law now requires HESAA to deduct the maximum amount of federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans available to the student from the available NJCLASS loan amount if the available interest rate for federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans is lower than the interest rate available to the student under the NJCLASS Loan Program. However to ensure that students do not lose federal loan benefits, including but not limited to income-based repayment (IBR), loan forgiveness and redemption programs, HESAA is requiring all federal Direct Loan amounts, subsidized and unsubsidized, to be deducted from the certified NJCLASS loan amount, regardless of the interest rate.

Yes, you may still be eligible through the NJCLASS Xpress Program with a cosigner.

To convert your application to the NJCLASS Xpress Program, click the link that says "Continue my application through the NJCLASS Xpress Program." All of the data you’ve submitted will be copied over and you can continue the process immediately or save and exit.

You will need to share the application reference number (12 characters, starting with 'R') with the cosigner. They will use this number and their SSN to access the application. Once they provide all of their information and press submit/continue, a new result will be processed.

• Click "Print my completed loan application and promissory note" link from the welcome page (under "You Can"), and log on
• Click "Print loan application and promissory note" to launch the document (Adobe PDF).
• Enter Borrower SSN and the loan application reference number.

You may get both a blank screen and the form with your data. Move the blank screen aside to get to the form that you want to print.

You must disable any pop-up blocking software in order to have the form appear.

Please make sure you're using a newer version of Adobe Acrobat Reader (8.0+). If you need to upgrade, go to www.adobe.com (it's free). Also, if you are using a slow internet connection, you may experience difficulty.

We recommend Internet Explorer 9.0 +. If you are not sure, go to www.microsoft.com to check for updates or to upgrade.