The SUNY Student Loan Service Center is the central billing and collection office for the State University of New York's state-operated campuses. Once you are no longer in attendance at the SUNY campus that granted your loan - whether by graduation, withdrawal, or a change in status to less than half-time, the campus will transfer all pertinent loan documentation to the SUNY Student Loan Service Center. Therefore, all correspondence and loan payments are to be directed to the SUNY Student Loan Service Center and not to the campus you attended. Please contact us at:

SUNY Student Loan Service Center
5 University Place
Rensselaer, New York 12144-3440
Phone: (518) 525-2626
Fax: (518) 525-2600
email: slsc@albany.edu

The records of the SUNY Student Loan Service Center are assigned loan account numbers. Each borrower is assigned a unique 9 digit student identification number which begins with the numbers 898. It is extremely important to include your loan account number on all payments and correspondence to the SUNY Student Loan Service Center. Unidentified items may result in delayed responses to your inquiries and/or misapplication of payments.

All borrowers are required to complete an Exit Interview Questionnaire and Repayment Agreement prior to leaving the campus they attended in order to ensure that they are fully aware of their rights and responsibilities under the LDS program. Failure to complete the LDS exit interview process can result in an administrative hold being placed on your diploma, transcripts and registration status.

You are required under the terms of the loan agreement to keep the SUNY Student Loan Service Center informed of any change in your name or address. Leaving a forwarding address notice with the Postal Service is not considered official notification of a change in address. Failure to properly notify the SUNY Student Loan Service Center may negatively impact your credit rating if we are unable to locate you and service your account.

Repayment is required to begin at the end of your initial grace period, which is determined by the regulations in effect at the time the loan was granted. Currently, the grace period for Health Professions Loans to Disadvantaged Students is twelve months following completion or termination of your full-time student status. The grace period immediately follows completion or termination of full-time student status and cannot be postponed to follow deferments for which you may be eligible. For example, you are eligible for a deferment while you are in advanced professional residency training. You must use your one-year grace period for the first year of residency and apply for deferments for each of the remaining years of residency. A discussion of the circumstances in which repayment may be deferred can be found in a later section, entitled "Deferment Benefits." Once your loan account information is established at the SUNY Student Loan Service Center, you will be sent an acknowledgment statement, confirming information that the campus has submitted. You will also receive periodic reminders during the grace period as to when repayment will begin. The SUNY Student Loan Service Center will send a billing statement before the first scheduled payment is due.

Health Professions Loans to Disadvantaged Students have a 10-year repayment period, which may be extended up to a maximum of 25 years in extenuating circumstances. You must contact the SUNY Student Loan Service Center to renegotiate a repayment period beyond 10 years. Periods of authorized deferment are not counted as part of the 10-year repayment period. The length of repayment is determined by the total amount borrowed, the interest rate, and the repayment amount. A $40 minimum monthly payment may be required, which may shorten the repayment period to less than 10 years

Payment can be made to the SUNY Student Loan Service Center by check, money order, credit card or Automated Clearing House (ACH) -NEVER SEND CASH. Checks should be made payable to the SUNY SLSC and be sure to enclose the top portion of your monthly billing statement or coupon with your remittance. ACH offers you the option of having your checking or savings account directly debited for the amount of your payment each month, which facilitates timely loan payment. To make payment by credit card, please go to Payment Options in the Borrower's section of our website SUNY Student Loan Service Center's Website

If you wish to accelerate repayment of your loan (repay ahead of schedule), you may do so by making payments larger than the amount required. Any additional amount remitted on a current account will be applied toward principal. Accelerating repayment shortens the repayment term and reduces the total interest that you will be required to pay over the life of the loan.

If you wish to make advance payments for future installments, your payment must be a multiple of your regular monthly payment. For instance, if your current monthly payment is $100 and you would like to make advance payments for the two succeeding months, your payment must equal $300, which is to be applied as: $100 for the current month and $100 for each of the two succeeding months. If you are making advance payments, you must attach a separate note indicating that the additional funds are to cover future payments. Mail this note along with your advance payment to the SUNY Student Loan Service Center, 5 University Place, Rensselaer, NY 12144. Otherwise, the additional amount will be applied toward the principal balance of your loan.

You are expected to make payments by the due date. Late fees are assessed for late payments or for the late filing of a benefit form. You will be charged up to $20 per occurrence for a nonnegotiable check.

Allowing your account to become delinquent can seriously affect your personal credit rating. Your campus must withhold services to you if you become a defaulted borrower. Should you default, requests for transcripts will not be honored. Should you attempt to register at a SUNY state-operated campus, your registration will be blocked. If repayment is not made according to the terms of the contract, regulations also allow for the referral of delinquent accounts to collection agencies and to an attorney for litigation. You will be held responsible for all of the resulting penalty, collection, and litigation costs as provided in the promissory note. Also, under NYS Tax Law, the SUNY Student Loan Service Center is entitled to intercept NYS income tax refunds of defaulted borrowers.

Pursuant to the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, education loans, such as Loans to Disadvantaged Students, are nondischargeable in bankruptcy under petitions filed after October 7, 1998.

If you are in a deferrable activity, payments on the loan will be deferred and interest will not accrue. You must apply for a deferment through the SLSC. Deferment forms are available here.
In accordance with Federal law governing your note, you may apply for deferment of repayment during a period in which you are:

• enrolled in a program of advanced professional training ("APT") (unlimited) (See important note below regarding this deferment);
• participating in a training fellowship program, training programs and related educational activities for graduates of health professions schools (limited to 2 years)(See important note below regarding this deferment);
• enrolled in the same or a different health professions school within 12 months of terminating your health professions studies (See important note below regarding this deferment);
• taking a leave of absence from your health professions studies to pursue a related educational activity (limited to 2 years) (See important note below regarding this deferment);
• performing active duty as a member of a uniformed service (Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Corps, or the U.S. Public Health Service Commission Corps) (limited to 3 years); or a Peace Corps volunteer (limited to 3 years);

Advanced Professional Training: Borrowers qualify for deferment on the basis of advanced professional training for the duration of that training if it is: 1) intended to further the borrower's knowledge and skills in the health professions discipline for which the loan was received; 2) a prerequisite for professional practice; and 3) an internship or residency program or other full-time training beyond the first professional degree.
Fellowship Training Deferment: The fellowship training must be a full-time activity in research, research training or health care policy and must be a formally established fellowship program which was not created solely for the borrower. In addition, a borrower must enter into the fellowship either prior to the end of Advanced Professional Training or not later than 12 months after completing participation in that Advanced Professional Training.
Enrolled in a Health Professions School: If you terminate your health professions studies before graduating, you will receive a 12-month grace period before you must begin repayment. However, if you return to the same or different health professions school within that 12-month period, your repayment will be deferred and you will be entitled to an additional 12-month grace period after graduating or otherwise terminating your studies. Similarly, if you graduate and enroll in a different health professions program at the same or another school, you will be entitled to an additional 12-month grace period after completing or terminating studies in the second program.
Leave of Absence to Pursue Related Educational Activity: The related educational activity must be part of a joint-degree program or a formal program of joint study that is offered in conjunction with the health professions program for which the borrower is preparing and it must enhance the borrower's knowledge and skills in the health profession for which the borrower is preparing as determined by the loan-granting campus. You must request this deferment at least 60 days before beginning the related educational activity. Furthermore, if you do not return to the loan-granting campus, your grace period will be applied retroactively to the beginning of the leave of absence when you terminated your studies. The repayment will begin after that retroactive grace period has expired.

The "Certification of Deferment" must be filed with the SUNY Student Loan Service Center at least once a year for each year you are in an eligible status. The SUNY Student Loan Service Center is required by Federal regulations to assess a late fee when forms are not submitted in a timely manner. Failure to file forms in a timely manner is equivalent to not making timely payments and can negatively affect your credit rating. You may access the form here.

Forbearance is a temporary postponement of payments or the acceptance of smaller payments than were previously scheduled. Interest will continue to accrue during any period of forbearance. Forbearance must be requested in writing, and adequate documentation that supports a financial inability to make payments must be provided. Unlike periods of deferment, a period of forbearance must be counted as part of the required 10-year repayment period.

Federal Loans for Disadvantaged Students are eligible for loan consolidation under the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended. The U.S. Department of Education administers the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program and the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program, which allow for loan consolidation.

The outstanding loan balance may be discharged in the event of death or permanent and total disability of the borrower. The SUNY Student Loan Service Center should be contacted for specific instructions.

Due to various State and Federal laws governing confidentiality of records, we cannot disclose any information about your account to anyone other than you, the borrower, without your express written permission.

If you have any questions or need additional information, you may contact the SUNY Student Loan Service Center by telephone at: (518) 525-2626 or by e-mail at: slsc@albany.edu. You may also access the SUNY Student Loan Service Center's website.