The Federal Parent PLUS Loan is available to parents of dependent, undergraduate students. To be eligible, you must have a positive credit history. The loan will be in the parent borrower's name, and you will be responsible for paying it back.
Parents may borrow up to the student's Cost of Attendance each year, minus any financial assistance the student is already receiving. Federal Direct PLUS Loans have a fixed interest rate of 7.9%. Interest begins accruing on the loan immediately after the first disbursement and continues to accrue until the principal balance is paid in full.
The first payment is generally due within 60 days after the loan is fully disbursed. However, for Parent PLUS loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2008, parents may request to postpone their payments while their dependent student is enrolled at least half-time.
There are four steps that must be completed in order for the UMKC Financial Aid and Scholarships Office to process a Parent PLUS Loan. The basic steps are:
On average, it will take 3-4 weeks for a Parent PLUS Loan to be processed and disbursed (funds sent to the university and applied to student account). Depending on the time of year that documents are submitted, it can take up to 6 weeks for the process to be completed.
Students are determined to be Dependent or Independent based on the information they provide on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). They must be able to answer "Yes" to at least one of the following criteria to be considered Independent:
Not supporting your child financially and/or not claiming them as a dependent on your federal tax return does not result in them being Independent for financial aid purposes.
However, grandparents, foster parents, legal guardians, aunts and uncles are not considered parents for financial aid purposes unless they have legally adopted the student. Students who are estranged from their parents should notify the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office by filling out a Special Circumstances Appeal Form.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), also known as the Buckley Amendment, is a compilation of federal regulations passed by Congress in 1974. The purpose of FERPA is to provide rights to students and their families with regard to access and privacy of academic records.
FERPA guarantees students at the postsecondary level the right to inspect and view their academic records. It also prohibits UMKC from releasing information from a student's record to any third party unless the student authorizes the release. However, the regulations which may be found in 34 CFR Part 99, outline several exceptions to the general rules stated above. For details on the UMKC implementation of FERPA, please refer to the General Catalog appendix section Policy on Student Records.
Students can sign a written release every time they want to authorize UMKC to disclose information from their education record to a parent. This is our preferred method of honoring the student's privacy rights. If a student has submitted this type of document to the UMKC Registrar's Office, the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office will also be able to release financial information to a parent.
All questions regarding student academic records should be directed to the UMKC Registrar's Office. The Registrar's Office manages official student records and serves as the initial contact on all FERPA issues.
The University of Missouri provides a fifty percent educational fee benefit to the spouses and dependents of employees for up to 140 credit hours (undergraduate, graduate, and professional) at any University campus. To be eligible for this benefit, employees must be currently employed as a benefit eligible employee with five years of continuous full-time service immediately prior to the first day of the semester or session in which the spouse/dependent is enrolled and an eligible dependent child or children must meet the criteria required under the definitions of "Child or Children" and "Dependent" based on the terms and conditions of the University of Missouri Medical Benefits Plan. Eligible employees must submit the authorization for Educational Fee Reduction for Spouses and Dependents (UMUW form UM 85) and any requested documentation of eligibility to their campus HR office. The campus Human Resource Director or the designated representative must approve all applications for enrollment in this program.
For more information about the UM System Educational Fee Reduction Program, visit this website.
Please note: Current employees who are already receiving this benefit for their spouse or dependents are not required to submit an authorization form (UMUW form 85). The benefit will continue to the next semester.
No Educational Fee Reduction will be granted after the deadline for registration or for previously completed courses.
