The resources of Tau Beta Pi's Student Loan Fund are available at any time to student members who otherwise would be without sufficient money to remain in college and complete their courses. Loans between $25 and $2,500 are made for a maximum of three years, and the rate of interest is six percent per annum on the unpaid balance (changed from eight percent in 1992 and three percent in 1980).
An application for a loan to an undergraduate student must be approved by the president, recording secretary, and treasurer of the member's chapter and by the head of the department in which he or she is studying. An application for a graduate loan must be approved by the student's department head. Loans are available to new members for covering the initiation fee. Notes must be cosigned by financially independent persons, usually the student's parent or guardian. Application and approval forms may be obtained from the Secretary-Treasurer.
Until 1950, student loans were limited to $250 per borrower and were available only to undergraduates. The 1950 Convention included graduate students and increased the loan limit to $500. The 1979 Convention raised the limit to $1,000, the 1996 to $2,500.
The major source of funds for loans is the resource of the prepaid BENT subscription account. A sizable sum of money, which eventually will be used to pay publication costs, would ordinarily lie idle until then. Making it available to undergraduate members in need was the idea in of the Executive Council in 1931.
A permanent Student Loan Fund was established by the Executive Council in 1950 by transferring $3,500 from the unappropriated surplus to the new fund. This fund, while supplementing the present major source of loan money, is growing to significant importance because one-half of all interest collected on loan notes is being added to the fund. Since inauguration of the program in 1935, 1,772 loans have been made totaling more than $840,000.
The Tau Beta Pi Student Assistance Fund was endowed in 1992 through the interest and generosity of C.C. Young, Illinois Alpha '24. Its purpose is to make funds available to student members of his and other chapters who would otherwise be without sufficient financial resources to remain in college. Repayment is not required, no interest is charged, and grantees are requested to
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