Missouri's college loan agency plans to start collecting payments in October from students who got loans from the federal government.
The Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority says it is the first state-based nonprofit organization to be approved to handle federal loan payments since a 2010 law required the U.S. Department of Education to originate all federally backed student loans. That law essentially eliminated a role for banks and private lenders.
Will Shaffner is the director of business development and governmental relations for MOHELA. He says the Chesterfield-based organization expects to begin handling its first batch of federal loans around Oct. 20. MOHELA initially will get around 100,000 accounts, but Shaffner says the federal contract calls for it to receive up to 10 million accounts based on its performance.