Preferred Lender Policy

For many families, student and parent borrowing opportunities represent a significant part of their college financing plans. Bradley University is committed to providing these families a full-range of high-quality and low-cost choices when determining the source(s) of capital for their educational loans.

Students who encounter borrowing needs that exceed the reach of the federal programs may explore opportunities afforded by Private Student Loans. These products fall outside the confines of federal student loan regulations making them much more varied in their features, benefits and costs. As with the PLUS loans, there are hundreds of Private Student Loan lenders. From the pool the university may designate a small number as "preferred". Such a designation does not constitute an endorsement by Bradley University nor is it influenced by any special financial arrangement or inducements. Further, the designation is not reflective of any exhaustive product analysis and does not guarantee that the preferred lender's product is necessarily the least expensive. The decision to designate "preferred" on a Private Student Loan product is regularly evaluated by the Office of Financial Assistance and based upon information provided by lenders in an RFI process. The decisions are based solely on the merits of the lenders' products combined with their proven levels of customer service. The information used to determine "preferred" status is retained in the Office of Financial Assistance and is available for viewing upon request. You are under no obligation to use a Bradley-preferred lender for your private loan borrowing needs.