We have valuable resources and tools to help you prepare for the future and navigate the college planning process. We're the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority. And our mission is you. College is the promise millions of Americans make to their children the day they are born. But it comes with a cost.
Most of us can't save it all. None of us can borrow it all. But we can help you build your own unique plan of savings, loans, and guidance to achieve your goals. We're not a bank, but we're fluent in low-cost fixed interest rate loans with multiple repayment options. Have you attended one of our live College Financing webinars?
Most of us can't save it all. None of us can borrow it all. But we can help you build your own unique plan of savings, loans, and guidance to achieve your goals. We're not a bank, but we're fluent in low-cost fixed interest rate loans with multiple repayment options. Have you attended one of our live College Financing webinars?
Services
As an authority on education financing, we are committed to supporting college-bound students and their families. Our mission of college affordability since our founding has been to help students and families access and afford higher education and reach financial goals through education programs, tax-advantaged savings plans, low-cost loans, and expert guidance.
We provide guidance, events, and products to help families plan for college and reach financial goals, as well as training and resources for counselors and higher education professionals. Our dependable prepaid tuition program, the U.Plan, helps you save money for college and caps college tuition at today's costs at over 70 colleges and universities across Massachusetts.
We offer free informative webinars and virtual community events on a range of topics. To register for an upcoming webinar, click a topic below. To view a recorded webinar, please view our MEFA Videos page. And if you're a school counselor or college administrator looking for a webinar, please visit the MEFA Institute.
Our videos are great college planning resources that provide information and guidance to help your family prepare for the future. This webinar provide information and clarity on the entire college financial aid application process. Learn about financial aid applications and types of financial aid, the factors that determine your aid eligibility, how colleges determine the amount of aid to offer, and the details of financial aid offers.
Here you'll find conversations with our experts about every step of planning, saving, and paying for college. Send us a question and we might answer it on the next epsiode.
Host Jonathan Hughes is joined by Kevin Fudge, Higher Education Expert, who discusses why families should consider affordability when exploring college options, why it's important to focus on career goals when making post-secondary plans, and how college-going trends have evolved.
Host Jonathan Hughes is joined by Kevin Fudge, Higher Education Expert, who discusses why families should consider affordability when exploring college options, why it's important to focus on career goals when making post-secondary plans, and how college-going trends have evolved.
Reviews (8)
Vanessa C.
Nov 03, 2020
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MEFA is totally disorganized, they are unprofessional and condescending on the phone. They can't get even a simple email address correct yet want you to leap thru hoops to get a small student loan. They want tax returns for 3 years, okay, but won't accept a nice clean IRS transcript. Meanwhile, they don't tell you that they will not accept an IRS transcript. So you print it or copy and send it with tracking via USPS, and you must send to CA. They are a MA company. Then the paperwork will sit there and no one will address it until you call several times. Don't bother with this
Jamie B.
Jan 12, 2020
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This was the worst loan experience of my life. MEFA kept emailing the need for more documents. Then the format wasn't good enough. When I called to clarify the staff was hateful and tried to rush and get me off the phone. After several weeks I finally gave up. It's like they were trying not to refinance my student loans. I have BSN, worked the same place for 25 years, have great credit score. Finally they told me after receiving more documents than it takes to buy at house, that because I made 2 loan payments in January, one was for Feb, that I didn't show 12 months of consecutive
Jennifer A.
Aug 16, 2019
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Horrible to work with. The left-hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. They are extremely slow to respond if they respond at all. Their statements are difficult to read. Customer service is horrid. All they do is pass you from one person to another. They give wrong information when you call and to top it all off they have high rates. If you can, avoid this company like the plague. I honestly believe this AES / MEFA should be shut down. That is how incompetent this organization is.
Kate C.
Aug 16, 2019
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This is an absolute nightmare of a company. The loan process was convoluted and inefficient, and then when they notified me that it was all set and approved and they were sending it to the school to be certified, they actually didn't send it, forcing us to pay out of pocket instead so that my kid could start school on time. Totally incompetent and inefficient and maddening to do business with. BEWARE.
Maria P.
Oct 11, 2018
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*Beware* MEFA represents itself as a helpful, knowledgeable "lender" that is associated w/ the state of Massachusetts which it is not. DO NOT be fooled! They are a PREDATORY "lender" with no interest in the families they service. None!
I tried to get help from my Congressman to intervene during a family emergency and there was no help whatsoever. Just many phone calls repeating the same information their call center tells you which was of no help at all in my situation, and emails that they didn't answer. Terrible service!
DO NOT use this "PREDATORY lender"
I tried to get help from my Congressman to intervene during a family emergency and there was no help whatsoever. Just many phone calls repeating the same information their call center tells you which was of no help at all in my situation, and emails that they didn't answer. Terrible service!
DO NOT use this "PREDATORY lender"
Denise G.
Jun 15, 2018
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I finally graduated from college with all my student loans waiting to be paid. I set up automatic payments with all my creditors but MEFA was a horror story, they sold the company who holds their loans twice (ACS then AES) they lost 3 of my monthly payments and when I called ( every week for 2 months) they couldn't help me because they were still transferring accounts!!!! My post grad payments were to start in November and here it is now June and I think FINALLY things have been straighten out but this has made trying to refinance my loans a nightmare...STAY AWAY !!!!!
Jackie C.
Nov 14, 2017
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I intended to write a long, detailed review of MEFA's horrendous customer service and horrendous repayment plans, but after reading the other review posted here, I can see that is not needed. The other review perfectly states how much of a mistake it was to trust in MEFA's loan services and repayment plans.
At this point, I feel it only necessary to blatantly say I have never been so dissatisfied with a company's customer service than I have with MEFA's. Several times I have had to call their customer service department to clarify information on my account, as well as to change
At this point, I feel it only necessary to blatantly say I have never been so dissatisfied with a company's customer service than I have with MEFA's. Several times I have had to call their customer service department to clarify information on my account, as well as to change
Emily S.
Jan 26, 2016
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I attended law school from 2007 to 2010. For two of those three years I obtained student loans from the federal government. However, based on bad advice from my law school and pressure from my parents, I reluctantly used MEFA loans to finance one year of my law school education because it was offering an interest rate that was a quarter of a percent lower than the fed. What a mistake that was, because the amount of money it has cost me on the repayment end has dramatically outweighed what I would have owed with that little bit of additional interest.
First of all, the federal government has
First of all, the federal government has
