Volume	8
The	Direct	Loan	Program
Introduction
Under	the	William	D.	Ford	Federal	Direct	Loan	Program	(Direct	Loan	Program),	the	U.S.	Department	of	Education	(the
Department)	makes	loans	to	help	students	and	parents	pay	the	cost	of	attendance	(COA)	at	a	postsecondary	school.	This
volume	of	the	
Federal	Student	Aid	Handbook	provides	information	to	assist	schools	in	determining	student	and	parent
eligibility	for	Direct	Loans,	counseling	student	borrowers,	and	awarding	Direct	Loans.
Changes	for	2025-2026
We	have	made	the	following	changes	in	
Volume	8	for	2025-2026:
In	Chapter	3,	we	have	revised	the	discussion	of	loan	periods	to	provide	a	limited	exception	to	the	longstanding
requirement	that	the	loan	period	for	a	Direct	Loan	may	not	include	any	terms	in	which	the	borrower	is	ineligible	to
receive	Direct	Loan	funds.
Also	in	Chapter	3,	we	have	added	a	slightly	revised	and	expanded	version	of	guidance	on	the	treatment	of	Direct
Loan	disbursements	made	after	the	date	of	a	borrower9s	death	that	was	previously	in	Volume	4,	Chapter	2	of	the	FSA
Handbook	under	the	heading	<Checking	Eligibility	at	the	Time	of	Disbursement.=	Because	this	guidance	is	specific	to
Direct	Loans,	we	believe	Volume	8	is	a	more	appropriate	location.
In	Chapter	5,	we	have	revised	Example	6	to	reflect	the	limited	exception	to	the	requirement	that	a	loan	period	may
not	include	terms	in	which	the	borrower	is	ineligible	(see	Chapter	3	changes	above).
In	Chapter	7,	we	have	revised	the	discussion	of	transfer	students	and	abbreviated	loan	periods	to	clarify	that	in	some
circumstances	a	transfer	student	may	be	eligible	to	receive	more	Direct	Loan	funds	for	the	program	at	the	new
school	than	a	non-transfer	student	would	be	eligible	to	receive	for	that	same	program.
Except	as	noted	above,	there	are	no	other	substantive	changes	to	Volume	8	for	2025-2026.
{"producer": "GPL Ghostscript 10.00.0", "creator": "wkhtmltopdf 0.12.6", "creationdate": "D:20250605165703Z00'00'", "moddate": "D:20250605165703Z00'00'", "source": "data/raw/The_Direct_Loan_Program.pdf", "total_pages": 71, "page": 0, "page_label": "1", "loader_type": "pdf", "load_timestamp": "2025-07-05T11:43:14.400001"}