(October 15, 2008)

Contact: Rick DelaHaya, Centenary News Services, 318.869.5073

Centenary Partners With Lela, Preserves Student Loan Savings Offered to Parents

student at graduation

SHREVEPORT, La. — Centenary College is joining forces with the Louisiana Education Loan Authority to preserve its Centenary Affordability Program (CAP)Parent PLUS loan, which offers a tremendous savings to parent borrowers.

CAP is a two-part financing solution offered to all Centenary students that includes both academic scholarships and the federally guaranteed Parent PLUS loan. The first part of the initiative is to assist students with their effort to pay for college. The second part of the program is to help parents save as they fund their student's four-year education at Centenary.

"We are taking into consideration that paying for college is a family commitment," said Tim Crowley, Centenary's Dean of Admissions. "Through our program, we consider a student's hard work to maintain their GPA and a parent's sacrifice to pay for their student's education. We have made it easier for our students to apply for academic scholarships, and we offer our CAP interest-free PLUS loan as our good-faith effort to help parents who have chosen to send their students to Centenary."

Through its partnership with Lela, Centenary provides interest-free PLUS loans to parent borrowers by paying the interest incurred on their PLUS loans up to $20,000 per year for up to four years of continuous undergraduate study at Centenary. Currently, the parent PLUS loan rate is fixed at 8.5 percent.

Through CAP, if parents qualify to borrow the maximum amount for the maximum time covered under the CAP PLUS loan of $20,000 annually for four years — a total of $80,000 — they could save more than $15,264 in interest payments for the four years their student in enrolled in Centenary under current rates.

"We are so grateful that Lela agreed to be our partner for CAP," said Mary Sue Rix, Director of Financial Aid. "With Lela as our partner, it is our hope that parents will see the CAP Plus loan as an incentive. Since their payments go directly to the principal through CAP, many parents us the opportunity to pay down the loan."

For more information on this program, contact the Office of Admissions at 318.869.5131 or the Financial Aid Department at 318.869.5137.


About Centenary College of Louisiana

Centenary College is a private, four-year arts and sciences college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Founded in 1825, it is the oldest chartered liberal arts college west of the Mississippi River and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Centenary is one of 16 colleges and universities constituting the Associated Colleges of the South and is regularly rated as one of the top colleges in the South. In 2008 Centenary College celebrates 100 years in Shreveport and Bossier City.