Fall 06er's: How much in student loans are you gonna take out?

ms mimi · Jun 17, 2006

about $4000 in loans, add $1500 more in grants. hey didn't i hear that congress signed a bill last year cutting funding for financial aide??!! what's the deal, anybody have any clue? :bugeyes:

AggieNurse99, BSN, RN · Jun 17, 2006

Its not as scary as you think!!!!!!!! I promise! Couple of things:

www.students.gov look for 'paying for school' or something; nursing scholarships, loans. GREAT programs. Don't forget about the Health Service Corps (pay me to work and pay off my debt?!)

2nd degree-ers: check with your financial aid office about 'appeals'. Maybe not federal grants, but there are state grants and subsidized staffords out there.

When job seeking, don't forget to ask about 'loan forgiveness' benefits. A certain national hospital system will pay 40% of your loans while employed.

Many, many hospitals in my area (TX) will 'scholarship' you $1500 a semester for 1 year of employment after graduation; some will pay you 40 hours for 24 hours of work (1 semester = 1 year employment); check with a large hospital's HR dept or you could be brave and call the DON's office.

Ed: Me? this year? $2600 staffords; $8000 private loans.

HisDaughterJeanne · Jun 17, 2006

Warning: Stupid Question Alert

With my EFC being so high (hmmm...yet I still have no money), I will only be able to borrow enough to pay for tuition. Fin Aid said something about getting private loans for whatever else I need. How do you go about this? Does fin. aid apply for you or should I be looking for lenders myself? How do they determine how much they will allow you to borrow?

ree-nee · Jun 17, 2006

Warning: Stupid Question Alert
With my EFC being so high (hmmm...yet I still have no money), I will only be able to borrow enough to pay for tuition. Fin Aid said something about getting private loans for whatever else I need. How do you go about this? Does fin. aid apply for you or should I be looking for lenders myself? How do they determine how much they will allow you to borrow?

Not a stupid question at all!!

I had high efc too. The federal loans were only enough to pay for tuition. I had to find private loans to pay for living expenses. Basically there are 2 kinds of loans to look for.

Type A = Certified education loans that will only cover the cost of tuition MINUS your kick-in from financial aid already received. What this means is that each school determines the amount of money each student is allowed to recieved in aid (either in grants, loans, etc.) and you cannot exceed that. So for example say my tuition costs are 20,000. Minus my efc of 10,000, the finanical aid office only gives me 5,000 in federal student loans, then I have the option to go to a private lender and get the other 5,000 in private loans. These certified lenders will confer with your school to verifiy the amount your allowed to recieve and the school usually recieves the check and takes their cut first if necessary. ..All major lenders have the loans like, Chase, Wells Fargo,..etc.

Type B= Are just private loans that are catagorized as education loans and are payed back over 10-15 years like other loans. They ARE NOT certified but they are very much credit/employment based and you can borrow up to 30,000-40,000 per year w/o exceeding 100,000. U need good credit, good employment history, id, and proof of eventual enrollment. They do not communicate with your school or need anthing from the school directly which is good bc you get the money disbursed to you directly when all is said and done..Sallie Mae, Wells Fargo and Bank of America are a few to start with...I chose Sallie Mae-they were great.

I got what I could from the govt. to cover tuition and the private loans will cover living expenses while in school.

Oh and yes you do have to do the leg work on your own when it comes to the private loans. The financial aide office usually wont get involved that much.

There really is not much to do other than pre-qualify for the loans until registration when we get schedules and a tuition bill.

Hope that made sense.

reenee

HisDaughterJeanne · Jun 18, 2006

Reenee...

Thanks so much for the info! Should I apply now for private stuff or should I wait until I get other info from school? I don't think we're getting any info from school until July..seems like it's cutting it close!

ree-nee · Jun 18, 2006

Reenee...
Thanks so much for the info! Should I apply now for private stuff or should I wait until I get other info from school? I don't think we're getting any info from school until July..seems like it's cutting it close!

Well most of the lenders will let you apply now, get approved, and finish all of their paperwork, and send in all of the paperwork available to you now. They wont disburse to you until you send everything they need. Most of the lenders I spoke to will take your info and run a credit/employment check and it will be valid for 90 days so you have that window to turn everything in. If you wait longer and you dont get ur paperwork in till the 91st day, they will run another credit/employment check which could be bad bc you may have quit work, or had something else happen that could effect your credit-worthiness.

So, yeah, basically we're in limbo till registration when we get a bill/school schedule. Thank goodness I finished all of the financial aid stuff early. I was given an early disbursement date for the federal loans so it will come in time to pay the tuition balance at school before it is considered late. Books and all the other stuff will have to be paid out of pocket if I want to get everything right after we register in July.

Oh and private loans can be applied for at anytime during the year. Its just always best to apply now if your employed and have good credit.

reenee

land64shark · Jun 19, 2006

If you're a freshman - or are classified as such - the max you can borrow is $2650 for your first year - insofar as I know.

I got $7500 also. It's the max for INDEPENDENT students. That's the difference.