Chapter 240: Financial Aids and Awards

240.020 Scholarships

kuscheld — Thu, 27 May 2010 17:35:51 +0000

240.020 Scholarships kuscheld Thu, 05/27/2010 - 17:35

Bd. Min. 11-18-66; Bd. Min.11-10-67; 2-28-75; 3-21-75; Bd. Min. 3-20-81 and 10-9-81; Bd. Min. 2-4-88; Amended Bd. Min. 9-2-94.

Curators Scholar Programs
1. Curators Scholars will be selected in recognition of outstanding academic achievement in high school and potential for outstanding academic achievement in college.
2. Missouri high school students may be considered for Curators Scholars Awards if, at the end of their junior year or thereafter, they are in the top 5 percent of their graduating class and have scored 28 or higher on the ACT exam or have scored an equivalent or higher score on another nationally normed entrance examination. Qualified students may be recommended by their high school counselors, may contact the University campus of their choice, or may be contacted directly by the campuses of the University.
3. The award will provide a fixed dollar amount to be applied toward fees and other educational expenses. The amount of the award will be set by the President in consultation with the Chancellors.
4. Awards are made annually with renewals for a total of up to five academic years or receipt of a bachelor's degree. Renewal is dependent on maintenance of a minimum GPA to be determined by the President in consultation with the Chancellors.
5. To respond to special circumstances, Chancellors may award Curators Scholarships to students who do not meet the exact conditions specified in (2) but who have, by virtue of other criteria, high promise for academic success at the University.
6. Recipients must be full-time students and residents of the State of Missouri, as defined by the ��ϲʹ�� Tuition and Residency Rules.
7. The provisions of this revision of the rules governing the Curators Scholarship Program will become effective for the 1995-96 academic year.
Other Scholarship Programs -- Chancellors may establish and fund other scholarship and fellowship programs, subject to the approval of the President, to meet educational needs and achieve enrollment management objectives.

240.030 Student Loans

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240.030 Student Loans kuscheld Thu, 05/27/2010 - 17:36

Bd. Min. 1-18-58; Bd. Min. 8-21-58, p. 13,488; Amended 8-1-69; Amended Bd. Min. 6-26-81 and 6-18-82; 1-21-98; Bd. Min. 5-24-01.

Student Loan Funds -- The University may establish long or short-term loan funds from public or privately donated funds for students.
1. Any loan funds so established, and otherwise not limited by endowment, trust agreement or bequest, shall bear an interest rate determined by the University. The determination of the interest rate will be guided by prevailing money market conditions, and will be approved annually by the Vice President for Finance and Administration.
2. Loan funds so established may be available to both full or part-time students and shall be operated with adequate fiscal controls to preserve the corpus of the loan funds and restrictions of the donor.
3. Campuses may determine individual eligibility requirements for any loan funds so long as those restrictions do not violate University, state or federal regulations, policies, trust agreements, or laws.
4. If at any time money is available in such funds and not immediately needed for loans, the same may be invested in accordance with the general investment policies of the University. Any interest earned on the investment shall become part of the funds and shall be readily available when needed for loans, except where limited by endowment, trust agreement or bequest.
Authority to Sign -- The Vice President for Finance and Administration, or his designated representative is authorized to sign on behalf of ��ϲʹ�� all documents necessary for the assignment or release of assignment of security in connection with loans made to students from any student loan funds and for the discharge of such obligations.
Student Loan Program -- The University may participate in the Stafford Student Loan Program, under the following terms:
1. Loans may be made only to students who have completed the appropriate required forms and who are unable to secure such loans with their own local "hometown" lenders. Loans are to be made at the discretion of the Director, Student Financial Aid.
2. Loans may be made only to students who are enrolled at the ��ϲʹ��.
3. Loans shall be made from funds provided by the University, private donations or from endowed/trust funds provided for that purpose.
4. The interest charged on such federal loans shall not exceed the maximum allowable interest charge fixed by law for that program.
5. The Vice President for Finance and Administration may allocate a portion of the interest and special allowance income of funds to defray the cost of the administration of the program.
6. The Vice President for Finance and Administration may, as the need arises, sell any student loan note to the Federal Student Loan Marketing Association or any other secondary market authorized by federal or state regulation. Proceeds of such sales shall be returned to the originating fund or, if permitted by the terms of the originating fund and by law, reinvested in additional student loans, grants, scholarships, or student services.
7. Student loans authorized under this section must be guaranteed by the federal government, an agency of the federal government.
Other Long-Term Loans -- The Vice President for Finance and Administration, or his designated representative, may as needed, establish other long-term loan funds for needy ��ϲʹ�� students.
1. Such funds may be provided from monies under the control of the University, from private donations, or from non-restricted endowed accounts.
2. Regulations including eligibility for such loans, interest rates charged, and terms of repayment shall be approved by the Vice President for Finance and Administration.

240.035 Relationships with Student Loan Lending Institutions

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240.035 Relationships with Student Loan Lending Institutions kuscheld Thu, 05/27/2010 - 17:39

Executive Order No. 36, 10-22-07.

To ensure that the University’s students and their families continue to receive impartial and sound advice from the University’s financial aid personnel and to promote the confidence of students and their families in the advice and services that they receive, the University shall abide by the following rule concerning relationships with student loan Lending Institutions.

Prohibition of Certain Remuneration to University Personnel
1. No University official, employee, or agent shall accept anything of more than nominal value on his or her own behalf or on behalf of another from or on behalf of a Lending Institution, except that this provision shall not be construed to prohibit any University official, employee, or agent from conducting (a) non-University business with any Lending Institution; or (b) University business unrelated to education loans. As used in the preceding sentence and throughout this rule, a Lending Institution is defined as:
  1. Any entity that itself or through an affiliate engages in the business of making loans to students, parents or others for purposes of financing higher education expenses or that securitizes such loans; or
  2. Any entity, or association of entities, that guarantees education loans, other than the Missouri Department of Higher Education; or
  3. Any industry, trade or professional association that, to the best of University’s knowledge after reasonable inquiry, receives money from any entity described above in subdivisions a. and b., unless:
    (1) Such money received by the association is in the form of membership dues or some comparable type of payment
    (2) Such money is fixed for all members of the association; and
    (3) Such association’s membership is comprised by at least 51% of entities and individuals who do not originate, service, or guarantee student loans;
  4. The term Lending Institution shall not include a not-for-profit entity that does not originate loans and that provides a network for accessing and exchanging data involved in the processing of loans that is open on equal terms to lenders that wish to participate in the network.
2. Nothing in this provision or throughout this rule shall prevent the University from holding membership in any nonprofit professional association.
3. The prohibition set forth in the previous subsections shall include, but not be limited to, a ban on any payment or reimbursement by a Lending Institution to a University employee for lodging, meals, or travel to conferences or training seminars unless such payment or reimbursement is related solely to non-University business or University business unrelated to education loans.
Limitations on University Personnel Participating on Lender Advisory Board -- No University official, employee, or agent shall receive any remuneration for serving as a member or participant of an advisory board of a Lending Institution, or receive any reimbursement of expenses for so serving, provided, however, that participation on advisory boards that are unrelated in any way to higher education loans shall not be prohibited by this rule.
Prohibition of Certain Remuneration to the University -- The University will not accept on its own behalf anything of value from any Lending Institution in exchange for any advantage or consideration provided to the Lending Institution related to its education loan activity. This prohibition shall include, but not be limited to, (i) “revenue sharing” by a Lending Institution with the University, (ii) the University’s receipt from any Lending Institution of any computer hardware for which the School pays below-market prices and (iii) printing costs or services. Notwithstanding anything else in this subdivision, the University may accept assistance as contemplated in 34 CFR 682.200(b)(definition of “Lender”)(5)(i), or any successor provision. “Revenue sharing” refers to an arrangement whereby a Lending Institution pays a school a percentage of each loan directed to the Lending Institution from a borrower at the University.
Preferred Lender Lists – In the event that the University or any of its campuses promulgates a list of preferred or recommended lenders or similar ranking or designation (“Preferred Lender List”), then
1. Every brochure, web page or other document that sets forth a Preferred Lender List must clearly disclose the process by which the lenders on said Preferred Lender List were selected, including but not limited to the criteria used in compiling said list and the relative importance of those criteria; and
2. Every brochure, web page or other document that sets forth a Preferred Lender List or identifies any lender as being on said Preferred lender List shall state in the same font and same manner as the predominant text on the document that students and their parents have the right and ability to select the education loan provider of their choice, are not required to use any of the lenders on said Preferred Lender List, and will suffer no penalty for choosing a lender that is not on said Preferred Lender List.
3. The decision to include a Lending Institution on any such list and the decision as to where on the list the Lending Institution’s name appears shall be determined solely by consideration of the best interests of the students or parents who may use said list without regard to the pecuniary interests of the University;
4. The constitution of any Preferred Lender List shall be reviewed no less than biennially;
5. No Lending Institution shall be placed on any Preferred Lender List unless the said lender i) provides assurance to the University and to student and parent borrowers who take out loans from said Lending Institution that the advertised benefits upon repayment will continue to inure to the benefit of student and parent borrowers regardless of whether the Lending Institution’s loan are sold, or ii) discloses to student and parent borrowers that advertised benefits upon repayment may be lost in the event that the loan is sold and such disclosure is presented in a manner that is readily apparent to student and parent borrowers;
6. No Lending Institution that, to the best of the University’s knowledge after reasonable inquiry, has an agreement to sell its loans to another unaffiliated Lending Institution shall be included on any Preferred Lender List unless such agreement is disclosed therein in the same font and same manner as the predominant text on the document in which the Preferred Lender List appears;
7. No Lending Institution shall be placed on any Preferred Lender Lists or in favored placement on any Preferred Lender Lists for a particular type of loan, in exchange for benefits provided to the University or to the University’s students in connection with a different type of loan;
8. Beginning July 1, 2008, no Lending Institution shall be placed on any Preferred Lender List unless said Lending Institution has adopted or agreed to abide by a lending code of conduct that contains principles similar to those established in this rule.
Prohibition of Lending Institutions’ Staffing of Financial Aid Offices -- The University may not allow and shall ensure that no employee or other agent of a Lending Institution is identified to students or prospective students or their parents as an employee or agent of the University in connection with educational loan activities. No employee or other agent of a Lending Institution may staff a financial aid office at any time.
Proper Execution of Master Promissory Notes -- The University shall not link or otherwise direct potential borrowers to any electronic Master Promissory Notes or other loan agreements that do not allow students to enter the lender code or name for any lender offering the relevant loan.
School as Lender -- If a campus participates in the “School as Lender” program under 20 U.S.C. § 1085(d)(1)(E), or any successor provision, School As Lender loans may not be treated any differently than if the loans originated directly from another lender; all sections of this rule apply equally to such School as Lender loans as if the loans were provided by another lender.
Prohibition of Opportunity Loans
1. As used herein, “override pools,” “opportunity funds,” and “opportunity loans” refer to any agreement, understanding or practice in which a lender applies more lenient loan underwriting criteria than it otherwise would to a certain class of loan applicants if the campus or University meets certain milestones or metrics with respect to other loans with that lender, such as the number of loans initiated or in force, or the dollar amount of such loans, or where the lender agrees with the University to lend money to students outside the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP), at the direction of the University, in exchange for the University or a campus dropping out of the federal direct loan program and/or marketing the lender’s separate FFELP loans to students.
2. The University shall not arrange with a Lending Institution to participate in any override pools, opportunity funds, opportunity loans, as defined above, if the participation in such program(s) disadvantages any other borrower.

Compliance with the provisions of this rule shall occur as soon as practicable, with the exception of subsection F for which compliance shall occur no later than July 1, 2008.

240.040 Policy Related to Students with Disabilities

kuscheld — Thu, 27 May 2010 17:42:00 +0000

240.040 Policy Related to Students with Disabilities kuscheld Thu, 05/27/2010 - 17:42

See Section 600.070 Policy Related to Students with Disabilities.