Communications and News Updates

Below you will find recent communications from the Office of Student Financial Planning.  This will include deadline notices, upcoming events and news updates that impact your financial aid.

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Federal Loan Returns

September 30, 2011

With federal loans, students are able to return money within 120 days of disbursement.  If a return is made during this time, any interest that has accrued as well as origination fees that were charged will be waived.  If you are considering returning loan money that you received in July, please make this return to Angie Adams in the Cashier’s Office by October 30^th.  

You have three options for returning your funds:

1. Log in to Self Service to view your account and make a payment by e-check for the amount you would like to return.  Then, email Angie Adams letting her know that you would like those funds to be returned on your loans
2. Write a check made payable to Wake Forest School of Medicine and take it to the Cashier’s Office (located in Piedmont Plaza One on the 6^th floor)
3. Write a check and send it through interoffice mail to Angie.  You will need to send a note along with the check letting Angie know that the funds need to be returned on your loans. 

If you choose to return money after the October deadline, you will have to send a check to the Department of Education.  This will be seen as a payment to your loan and no refund of interest or fees will be given.

If you have any questions about how much to return, please contact our office. 

If you would like to also reduce the amount you are borrowing for 2^nd semester (coming in January), please email the Financial Aid Office that information.  Please let us know if you have any questions.

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Constitution Day

September 17, 2011

What is Constitution Day?

On September 17, 1787, the U.S. Constitution was signed by the Founding Fathers. This influential event in American history established the many rights and freedoms "We the People" enjoy today.   It is required that each educational institution that receives Federal funds for a fiscal year shall hold an educational program on the United States Constitution on September 17 of such year for the students served by the educational institution.

Upcoming Event

Ther will be a Constitution Day Lecture offered by Wake Forest School of Divinity on Friday, September 16 from 11:00 - 12:00.  Find more details on the event website. 

 

Could you pass the Naturalization test to become a U.S. Citizen?

Find out by taking the test here.

 

25 Fun Facts about the U.S. Constitution

1. The U.S. Constitution has 4,400 words. It is the oldest and shortest written Constitution of any major government in the world."
2. Of the spelling errors in the Constitution, "Pensylvania" above the signers' names is probably the most glaring.
3. Thomas Jefferson did not sign the Constitution. He was in France during the Convention, where he served as the U.S. minister. John Adams was serving as the U.S. minister to Great Britain during the Constitutional Convention and did not attend either.
4. The Constitution was "penned" by Jacob Shallus, A Pennsylvania General Assembly clerk, for $30 ($726 today).
5. Because of his poor health, Benjamin Franklin needed help to sign the Constitution. As he did so, tears streamed down his face.
6. The oldest person to sign the Constitution was Benjamin Franklin (81). The youngest was Jonathan Dayton of New Jersey (26).
7. When the Constitution was signed, the United States' population was 4 million. It is now more than 309 million. Philadelphia was the nation's largest city, with 40,000 inhabitants.
8. A proclamation by President George Washington and a congressional resolution established the first national Thanksgiving Day on November 26, 1789. The reason for the holiday was to give "thanks" for the new Constitution.
9. The first time the formal term "The United States of America" was used was in the Declaration of Independence.
10. It took one hundred days to actually ÒframeÓ the Constitution.
11. There was initially a question as to how to address the President. The Senate proposed that he be addressed as "His Highness the President of the United States of America and Protector of their Liberties."Both the House of Representatives and the Senate compromised on the use of "President of the United States."
12. James Wilson originally proposed the President be chosen by popular vote, but the delegates agreed (after 60 ballots) on a system known as the Electoral College. Although there have been 500 proposed amendments to change it, this "indirect" system of electing the president is still intact.
13. George Washington and James Madison were the only presidents who signed the Constitution.
14. James Madison was the only delegate to attend every meeting. He took detailed notes of the various discussions and debates that took place during the convention. The journal that he kept during the Constitutional Convention was kept secret until after he died. It (along with other papers) was purchased by the government in 1837 at a price of $30,000 (that would be $629,000 today). The journal was published in 1840.
15. Although Benjamin Franklin's mind remained active, his body was deteriorating. He was in constant pain because of gout and having a stone in his bladder, and he could barely walk. He would enter the convention hall in a sedan chair carried by four prisoners from the Walnut Street jail in Philadelphia.
16. The word "democracy" does not appear once in the Constitution.
17. The Constitution contains 4,543 words, including the signatures and has four sheets, 28-3/4 inches by 23-5/8 inches each. It contains 7,591 words including the 27 amendments.
18. From 1804 to 1865 there were no amendments added to the Constitution until the end of the Civil War when the Thirteenth amendment was added that abolished slavery. This was the longest period in American history in which there were no changes to our Constitution.
19. As evidence of its continued flexibility, the Constitution has only been changed seventeen times since 1791!
20. At the time of the Constitutional Convention Philadelphia was the most modern city in America and the largest city in North America. It had a population of 40,000 people, 7,000 street lamps, 33 churches, 10 newspapers, and a university.
21. The median age in America by the end of the 18th century was 16 years of age (today it is around 34 years of age), 19 of every 20 citizens lived on the land, and 70% of the land was worked by its owners (30% by tenants).
22. The national government spent $4.3 million during the first session of Congress from 1789-1791. During the last year that George Washington was President of the United States (1796-1797), the entire cost of running the federal government was $5,727,000.
23. George Washington and James Madison were the only Presidents who signed the Constitution.
24. The only other language used in various parts of the Constitution is Latin.
25. Four of the signers of the Constitution were born in Ireland.

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  Upcoming Changes to Federal Student Loans

August 3, 2011

Both chambers of Congress passed and President Obama signed into law the Budget Control Act of 2011.  Included in this Act are changes to some aspects of Federal Student Loans for Graduate Students.

1. The first change is beginning with the 2012-2013 academic year: July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2012,  NOT THIS YEAR 2011-12, all graduate students will lose the interest subsidy on the Subsidized Stafford loan. That loan will be just like the current unsubsidized Stafford loan which has always accrued interest while a student was in school. The amount you can borrow will remain the same. 
2. The second change is the loss of the “origination fee rebate” on each loan, whether unsubsidized or subsidized, for Stafford and Grad PLUS loans.  Currently, there is a 1% fee on each Stafford and a 4% fee on each Graduate PLUS loan, but a portion of the fee is rebated at the time of disbursement, so the student effectively loses only 0.5% on Stafford and 2.5% on PLUS.  Beginning July 1, 2012, the full fee will be charged

 

This is all we know right now.  The  financial aid community and the respective national associations will flush out all possible scenarios and questions about the changes.

We will keep you up to date if and when any finer details emerge.

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