A Continuous Charity 2024 Application

Description

Interest- Free and Refinance Loan Application for 2024 | A Continuous Charity Foundation (ACC) 


ACC aims to support as many applicants as possible with interest-free loans for higher education. With this in mind, we encourage all applicants to minimize the loan amount requested from ACC by exhausting alternatives to fund their higher education. By all applicants doing their part to minimize loan amounts requested from ACC, more funds will be available for ACC to efficiently steer towards helping more students and fulfill greatest needs, insha'Allah. 

While we recognize that applicants may not have some or all of these options available to them, prior to submitting an application, ACC strongly encourages applicants try their best to independently secure funds via any and all possible avenues such as:

• Personal income and savings
• Family contribution
• Scholarships and grants
• Interest-free loans from family, friends, or community members
• Gap semesters or part-time enrollment to increase personal income from a paying job or internship
• Local community fundraising
• Online crowdfunding

In addition to minimizing your requested loan amount, proposing a fast repayment plan increases the likelihood of your being awarded an ACC loan. Why? Fast repayment of loans fuels ACC's sustainable model of recycling funds. That allows ACC to provide more interest-free loans to help more applicants, sooner, while simultaneously losing less dollar value to inflation, including rising costs of tuition and housing. 

Consider the following for your repayment plan proposal:

• Monthly payment you can afford with your current or anticipated income
  • Consider your obligations for repayments of other debts or expenses you'd be responsible for while repaying the ACC loan
• Earliest possible dates to start and complete repayment
• Maximum loan term is four years (48 months)
  • A loan term is the amount of time from the date ACC disburses awarded funds (i.e. pays tuition) until the date the loan is completely repaid to ACC.
  • ACC prefers loans are repaid in full within four years of disbursement. While less common, loan terms beyond four years may be considered for high-need applicants.
• Repayment assistance commitment from your parents, spouse, or co-signer
• Phased plan that starts low
  • If you cannot afford an ideal monthly payment now but can anticipate higher income after graduation or postponed repayment assistance from others, your phased plan can start with a lower monthly payment for a certain number of months then increase it at a later date.

Requirements

Application Requirements/Criteria:

Completed applications must be submitted by 11:59pm CST by March 15, 2024. Incomplete applications or applications received after the deadline will NOT be reviewed. If an applicant does not meet all requirements, the applicant will not be considered for a loan. ACC assumes no responsibility in informing the applicant of any missing material resulting in the application not being considered. 

• Must be U.S. Citizen or permanent resident  
• Currently attending or attended a community college, four-year institution, master's program, PhD program, or professional doctorate program in the United States
• Preferred minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale [not required for the Islamic Studies Loan]
• Islamic Studies Loans are reserved for applicants receiving formal Islamic education in the U.S.
• Merit is determined by examining an applicant's academic achievements, test scores, class standing, GPA, and awards. The better an applicant does academically, the more points he/she will receive in this category.
• Islamic scholarship represents an applicant's simultaneous quest for Islamic knowledge. Examples include learning Arabic, memorizing the Quran, attending a weekly halaqah, weekend seminars, etc.
• Community Service & Activism examines how involved an applicant is in the greater Muslim and non-Muslim community. Examples include volunteering at a local food bank, being the president of a club or school organization, tutoring, or protesting at a local rally. 
• Need is determined by looking at the financial portfolio of the applicant, spouse, and parent/guardians(s). Other scholarships or government grants such as FAFSA may be included for review. The greater the need, the greater the points that are assigned to this section.
• Refinancing applicants must meet the Community Service, Islamic Awareness and Status criteria listed above. A GPA of 3.0 is also preferred. Please note that if the student loan is interest-bearing, ACC will only pay down the principal amount. As a policy, we do not cover the interest that has accrued. The student is encouraged to pay off the interest before receiving the ACC interest-free loan.

Additional Information:

• Applicants can fill out this electronic application in multiple sessions. A partially filled application can be saved and completed later. Make sure that this saved application link goes to your inbox and not your spam folder. When returning to complete the application, click on the "Finish Application" tab to get access to the saved application. Once the application is complete, click on the "Submit" tab to submit your application to ACC.
• The top finalists for ACC are invited for a mandatory interview with the ACC Application Review Committee and may be asked to provide transcripts. Based on interview performances, the final loan awards will be determined.
• ACC reserves the right to award multiple interest-free loans to a single recipient over multiple years.
• ACC recipients are announced by June 1, 2024; and are notified of the results electronically, at the email address provided on the interest-free loan application.
• Awards are distributed to each recipient's school directly or loan service provider.