St. Thomas changed its federal student loan process and now requires students to borrow from the federal government, not banks.
The university is concerned by the instability in the student loan market; more than 50 percent of St. Thomas student loan borrowers lost their loan lenders recently.
St. Thomas has joined the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program. The U.S. Department of Education secures the funding for the Direct Loan Program directly from the U.S. Treasury, so instability in the financial markets does not affect the availability of student loans.