Most Utah banks no longer offering student loans

Reading Time: 2 minutes With the way the financial aid market is looking across the nation, Utah legislature has taken a closer look at its own financial aid situation. When looking at student loans in particular, struggling banks in Utah have been pulling out of offering these loans.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

With the way the financial aid market is looking across the nation, Utah legislature has taken a closer look at its own financial aid situation. When looking at student loans in particular, struggling banks in Utah have been pulling out of offering these loans. This has affected the amount of options for students applying for loans. However, students are still able to attain loans through credit unions.

The Utah Higher Education Assistance Authority (UHEAA) is in charge of student loan transactions in Utah. Banks and credit unions must be in partnership with UHEAA in order to offer student loans.

Because of the current situation, all but one of the banks has pulled out of offering student loans. This has limited student’s options significantly since credit unions are now the only ones allowed to provide student loans in Utah.

Should students be worried about credit unions backing out? Utah Community Credit Union is an example of a local credit union with a branch in UVU that works with many of UVU’s student loans. “UCCU will continue to provide the students with loans,” said Brad Norton, UCCU senior vice president. “We have done it for 50 years and have no intentions of backing out.”

Joanna McCormick from UVU’s financial aid office said this situation hasn’t negatively affected most students, only the ones who needed to find a new lender. She said this will affect students by requiring them to analyze lenders better and really ask questions. She advises students who are planning on going to school out of state to look for a national agency to receive a loan.

Compared to the rest of the nation, Utah is faring well when it comes to student loans. Other states have had to shut down their UHEAA equivalent programs due to lack of money and the current crisis state of the financial aid market.

During the current academic year, UHEAA is allowed to give up to $121 million in loans. UHEAA also said in August that if a cooperative lender can’t be found, UHEAA itself will write a loan out directly to the student.

With the changes in the economy, students are being forced to explore more options to find the best way to pay for college. A helpful link that gives information about financial aid, scholarships and loans is http://www.utahmentor.org/finaid

Participating Lenders in Utah

Alliance Credit Union

America First Federal Credit Union

American United Family of Credit Unions FCU

Beehive Federal Credit Union (Idaho)/UHEAA

Deseret First Credit Union

Family First Credit Union

GoldenWest Credit Union/UHEAA

Granite Credit Union

Jordan Credit Union

KeyBank NA/UHEAA

Mountain America Credit Union

Tooele Fed CU/HeritageWest Credit Union

US Bank

University of Utah Credit Union

Utah Community Credit Union

USU Charter Credit Union

Weber State Credit Union