GBHEM Loans & Scholarships to Offer Financial Relief Measures
The General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM) recognizes that the coronavirus pandemic will cause financial hardship for many graduate and undergraduate students. In response to the economic impact of the global pandemic, the GBHEM Office of Loans and Scholarships has made some important updates to its policies.
New 2020 guidelines – including a loan payment suspension option – are outlined below. Anyone with questions regarding these items should contact the Office of Loans and Scholarship at 615-340-7342 or umloans@gbhem.org.
GBHEM Student Loan Payment Suspension
GBHEM is aiding student loan borrowers whose income has been impacted as a result of the pandemic. Borrowers currently in repayment may request a payment suspension for three months. Interest will accrue during the payment suspension once the request has been verified by GBHEM. Borrowers may pay interest or partial payments at any time. The payment suspension will not affect future deferment requests.
Borrowers may email umloans@gbhem.org to ask for a payment suspension request form. Payment suspension request forms must be completed and signed by both borrower and cosigner (electronic signatures accepted) by April 15, 2020.
GBHEM may in its sole discretion, discontinue taking new applications for payment suspension at any time without notice.
GBHEM Student Loan Application
The GBHEM Spring/Summer 2020 Student Loan application closed to new applicants effective March 23, 2020. Anyone with an application open will have until midnight April 1, 2020 to complete it. The GBHEM Fall 2020 Student Loan application will be open from May 14, 2020 to October 15, 2020.
GBHEM Fall 2020 Scholarships
The GBHEM Fall 2020 Scholarships review and awarding is on track! Thanks to our current online process, scholarships will be awarded and recipients notified by July 1, 2020.
GBHEM is committed to helping all our students and constituents to the best of our abilities during this health crisis. For additional GBHEM resources related to the pandemic, visit our new E-Resources page.
About GBHEM: The General Board of Higher Education and Ministry embraces the ministry of learning and leadership formation in The United Methodist Church and Wesleyan tradition; serving Christians around the world who are shaped by a process of intellectual engagement, spiritual and character formation, and leadership development. We cultivate a dynamic culture of call and vocational discernment that encourages lay and clergy leaders to discover, claim and flourish in God’s ministry and mission for the Church, the academy and the world. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook: @GBHEM.
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