Master Promissory Note

The MPN is a promissory note that can be used to make one or more loans for one or more academic years (up to 10 years). There are two types of MPNs in the Direct Loan Program: one for student loans, and one for parent PLUS loans.

If you are a student borrower under the Direct Loan Program attending a school that is authorized and chooses to make multiple loans under the same MPN for more than one academic year, you will only sign one MPN for student loans. It will be used for all of your Direct Subsidized Loans and Direct Unsubsidized Loans over multiple academic years. For example, if you enroll in college as a freshman and borrow under the Direct Loan Program for all years of study, you may be able to borrow under this one MPN for all years.

If you are a parent borrower under the Direct Loan Program whose child is attending a school that is authorized and chooses to make multiple loans under the same MPN for more than one academic year, you will only sign one MPN for parent PLUS loans. It will be used for all of your Direct PLUS Loans for that particular child over multiple academic years.

The electronic MPN web site allows you to complete and sign an MPN for Direct Subsidized Loans and Direct Unsubsidized Loans (if you are a student borrower), or an MPN for Direct PLUS Loans (if you are a parent borrower) over the web as an alternative to using a paper MPN.

That is not a problem--you may complete an MPN using the paper process. To complete a paper MPN, please contact the school's financial aid office.

The process for completing an electronic MPN is simple. You will need to have your Department of Education issued PIN to begin the process. If you do not have your PIN, visit the PIN site. You will also need certain hardware and software to complete the process. Parents completing a PLUS eMPN must use their own PIN number, and not their child's PIN number.

You will be required to use your Department of Education issued PIN to complete an electronic MPN. If you do not have a PIN, you may request one from the official PIN site. A parent borrower must also request a PIN number from the PIN site to use when completing a PLUS MPN.

Will I be able to save my electronic MPN prior to submitting it and return at a later time to complete it?

No. You will need to complete the entire electronic MPN process in a single session. If you exit the web site before submitting your signed MPN and return later, you will have to start over from the beginning of the process.

Yes. The application and promissory note for Direct Consolidation Loans can be signed electronically.

I received an error on step 3 of the process stating, "There was a problem matching the information you provided with your COD Award record, please see the Frequently Asked Questions page for further instructions"

You are receiving this error because the information you are providing on step 3 of the process, specifically; your first name, last name, date of birth, or social security number does not match the same information in the COD system. Please contact your school's financial aid office to have them review your COD loan record to verify that the information you are providing during step 3 matches with what the COD record has on file. If a discrepancy is found, your school's financial aid office will need to either make the change online through the COD web site, or submit a change request.