Tuition & Financial Aid

Master Promissory Note - Frequently Asked Questions

How do I complete a Stafford MPN?

You will need your Department of Education PIN to electronically sign the MPN. For help obtaining your PIN #, please go to: http://www.pin.ed.gov/PINWebApp/pinindex.jsp. Complete a Stafford Direct Loans Master Promissory Note at https://dlenote.ed.gov/empn/index.jsp . Click on ‘Complete New MPN for Student Loans’, then select the radio button for ‘Subsidized/Unsubsidized’.
You should receive an email from the Department of Education confirming that the receipt of your MPN. Capella receives a confirmation that you completed the Direct Loan MPN within 2-3 business days.
If more than 3 business days have passed and the MPN is still shown on the ‘To Do’ list in Student Center, please forward your MPN confirmation email to Capella’s Office of Financial Aid at fao@capella.edu.
Note: The Graduate PLUS loan application requires that you sign a Graduate PLUS MPN.

What loan amount should I request on the MPN?

Federal Stafford loans do not require a credit check, therefore, you should not need to enter a loan amount and you can leave that field blank. Some Master Promissory Notes (MPN) do not include a dollar amount because awards are calculated by Capella based on federal limits, Cost of Attendance, and your previous federal loan history.

I already completed an MPN. Has the Office of Financial Aid received it?

The MPN will be removed from your “To Do” list in Student Center as soon as Capella receives confirmation from the Department of Education that you have completed an MPN. This step is needed in order to process and determine your financial aid award. It could take from 3 to 5 business days for the Department of Education to send confirmation to Capella. The MPN checklist item in your Financial Aid To Do list will be removed when Capella’s Office of Financial aid receives the MPN confirmation.

Why does the MPN request references?

References are required by lenders so that in the event the lender has difficulty reaching the borrower, they have at least two individuals they can contact to try to find the borrower. Note: References are not co-signers.