Default Fee

With New York State facing a more than $4 billion budget deficit for 2008-09, the funds originally earmarked for the New York State Higher Education Services Corporation (HESC) to pay the 1 percent default fee for student loan borrowers will be redirected to support the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) starting July 2, 2008.

To minimize our customers' programming changes, HESC will pay the default fee for all loans whose Period of Loan (POL) begins before May 1, 2008. For example, if the beginning POL is April 30, 2008, HESC will pay the default fee. If the beginning POL is May 1, 2008, HESC will not pay the default fee.

As of March 1, any requests for guarantee with a beginning Period of Loan of May 1, 2008 or later will be held, pending HESC systems updates. These records will be found under the School tab on the HESC loans Web site. Once our programming is complete, the loans will be released for guarantee.

Please direct questions or comments regarding the use of HESC electronic products or services to Priority Services at priorityservices@hesc.org. Contact the HESC Help Desk with any technical problems with HESC’s electronic services. To contact HESC toll free, call 1-866-431-HESC (1-866-431-4372) and follow the menu prompts.