Financial Aid
Preferred Lender List
The George Washington University Law School has compiled a Preferred Lender List made up of lenders whose terms, service and application/certification/disbursement processes appear to be favorable for student borrowers. Students may, but are not required, to work with any of the lenders on this list. Students may choose to work with any eligible federal or commercial lender for their borrowing needs, whether on the GW Law Preferred List or not. The GW Law Financial Aid Office will work with any lender a student selects to certify the student’s loan(s) and to facilitate loan disbursement.
In order to compile its Preferred Lender List, The George Washington University Law School Financial Aid Office requested information from a total of eight lenders - Access Group, Citibank, Sallie Mae, Total Higher Education, Chase, SunTrust, Wachovia, and Wells Fargo.
The first four of these lenders have worked with a number of GW law students in recent years and have been providing excellent service. We selected the other four lenders based upon discussions with financial aid colleagues within the university, as well as our general knowledge of the reputations of these lenders. By “general reputation,” we mean the size and scope of the services provided by these lenders. The eight lenders from whom we requested information represent both commercial and non-profit institutions.
Based upon the information we have received, the following is our preferred lender list:
We chose these lenders based upon: (1) competitiveness of loan terms*; (2) ease of application, certification, and disbursement for students; (3) customer service available to students; (4) stability and diversity of financial products offered; and (5) general reputation. We also are providing lender comparison charts [pdf] and loan term definitions to assist you in selecting a lender.
Students may use the list of lenders and the attached information as reference tools. Students should conduct independent investigations of these lenders, as well as of lenders not listed.
To compare all aspects of loan programs, students are encouraged to contact individual lenders. Students may also use an independent and interactive web-based loan analyzer.
*Please note that the loan terms specified by the preferred lenders were provided in response to GW Law's request for information in spring 2008. These terms are subject to change at any time by individual lenders. Students should consult directly with the lenders to obtain the most current and accurate information regarding specific terms in effect at any given time.