Plans by the Missouri Students Association President Nick Droege to create an emergency loan program were put on hold after he discovered MU already offers long-term loans.

Instead, Droege now wants to create an educational campaign that teaches students about the services of the MU Office of Student Financial Aid, he said.

Through a joint effort between the MU Office of Student Financial Aid and the Office for Financial Success, students deemed to have fallen on economic hardship can apply for the loan. Definitions of hardship can be found on the [MU Student Loan Repayment Center website](http://muloans.missouri.edu/index.html).

The idea of an emergency loan program was seen first as a platform in Nick Droege’s campaign for MSA president. Several other Southeastern Conference schools have an emergency loan program in place, a fact Droege learned at the 2012 SEC Exchange, he said. The exchange is an annual meeting of SEC school student governments.

After Droege proposed the idea of a program to a full MSA Senate, it was later learned that such a program – one offering loans to students in financial need – existed within the Office of Student Financial Aid.

“There’s a lack in education of how to use the financial aid office,” Droege said.

Droege was unaware that the Office of Student Financial Aid wasn’t just for students who qualify for federal aid – Pell Grants, subsidized and unsubsidized loans – but for every student, he said.

These non-federal loans are instead university loans where a majority of the funds come from financial endowment and grants, Droege said. And instead of a brief 90-day loan that Droege originally envisioned, the long-term loan currently in place remains interest-free until six months after the borrower graduates.

The plan now is to create an educational campaign with the Office for Financial Success for students who may be facing economic hardship, Droege said. Doing so will teach students how to emerge from financial constraints and be fiscally responsible.

“We’re going to try and launch (the campaign) in the summer and the fall to explain to students the resources they have offered to them and ways to prepare themselves and be successful if there’s an emergency that ever comes up,” Droege said.

The campaign is still in the early stages, and meetings are currently being scheduled to see to its fruition, Droege said.

The long-term loan program, as it stands now, is available to any student, but there are limitations.

“Applicants must be in good academic standing and must work with the Office for Financial Success to develop a budget and purpose for the loan before it will be processed,” said Nicholas Prewett, the director of the Office of Student Financial Aid.

How much a student can borrow varies on the type of loan and is often based on their academic unit, Prewett said.

Part of Droege’s goal is to raise awareness for the loan program, he said. Currently, the conversation between the student and financial aid office begins with going to the office and having an advisor match them to an appropriate loan, Prewett said.

“We give out hundreds of the loans each year,” Prewett said. “I wouldn’t really say it’s an issue of it not necessarily being publicized as a loan program.”

Currently, the long-term program focuses on students with junior or senior standing who, in some cases, need the extra money to pay for credit hours required to graduate, said Michael Blumreich, student president of the Office for Financial Success.

While increased awareness would be fantastic in order to reach more students, there is potential for some to take advantage of the system despite the safeguards set up to restrict students who don’t need the loan from receiving it, Blumreich said.

“In that sense, it’s a double-edged sword,” Blumreich said.