Higher Ed Utah

If you are one of the borrowers whose loan was transferred to the Department of Education, you may feel sold down the river right now.  If it’s any consolation, UHEAA’s feelings are like a mother’s on the first day of kindergarten – we hope the Department plays nicely with you.  Now, put aside the creepy imagery of UHEAA being your mother for a moment.

We owe you an explanation.

You’ve heard (and heard, and heard) about the tightening credit markets.  Banks today are practically slot machines, dispensing cash only to a lucky few.

Just as the markets were crashing, Congress made it harder to service student loans.  Many banks, including banks that put up the money for UHEAA loans, stopped making student loans altogether.

In today’s economy, the only way UHEAA can find capital is to transfer loans to the U.S. Department of Education.  What do we use this capital for?

Back to the creepy analogy.  A mother sends her kids to school because she knows the importance of education.  (And because she might go crazy if they stayed home all day, but that’s another discussion altogether.)

Well, UHEAA’s purpose is similar: Get Utah students to school.  Everything else we do, including loan servicing, is secondary.  Money from the transfer is used to make new student loans, an investment in Utah’s future – your future.