Financial Aid question for those attending private schools

Asherah, BSN, RN · May 16, 2008

Lori,

Yes, I do know how you feel as I heard of my acceptance in mid-February and waiting until early April to receive my financial aid package from Hopkins. I'm sorry that you will experience a longer delay. I can give you insight into the private lenders as I've been monitoring the situation on an almost daily basis. Your financial aid situation will be different if you are pursing a BSN or MSN, can you post again and let me know? I assume you will beginning school in the fall, August or September?

I used www.finaid.org to select a handful of lenders and then proceeded to find the details of their loan products, the best rates they offered, the index they used (Prime Rate v. LIBOR), repayment term, and any APR discounts (e.g. after 48 on-time payments you get a rate cut of 0.5% as an example).

In terms of federal loans, as the Stafford/Direct loan limits are increasing, you will likely be able to take advantage of an extra $2K if you are pursuing an undergraduate degree. Unfortunately, graduate student limits will not be increasing.

Do you have more than one school to choose from or are you sure you'll be attending the private school? If the cost is a make or break, then unfortunately you will likely have to wait until you get your FA package and then determine what portion you will have to pursue privately.

If you have a limited (or not-so-great) credit history, you may want to discuss the option of a co-signer with any family members you may have now, to be realistic about your options with them if you should need an individual to co-sign.

Good luck! :)

tothepointeLVN, LVN · May 16, 2008

I found out my eligibility straight away because the financial aid offer was experienced enough to take one glance our tax returns to figure out that I was not eligible for grands or perkins only stafford.

The basic formula is you expected contribution is 1/3 of our income (or your parents income) they also factor in investments etc but thats the basic rule of thumb

AtomicWoman · May 17, 2008

Lori,
Yes, I do know how you feel as I heard of my acceptance in mid-February and waiting until early April to receive my financial aid package from Hopkins. I'm sorry that you will experience a longer delay. I can give you insight into the private lenders as I've been monitoring the situation on an almost daily basis. Your financial aid situation will be different if you are pursing a BSN or MSN, can you post again and let me know? I assume you will beginning school in the fall, August or September?
I used www.finaid.org to select a handful of lenders and then proceeded to find the details of their loan products, the best rates they offered, the index they used (Prime Rate v. LIBOR), repayment term, and any APR discounts (e.g. after 48 on-time payments you get a rate cut of 0.5% as an example).
In terms of federal loans, as the Stafford/Direct loan limits are increasing, you will likely be able to take advantage of an extra $2K if you are pursuing an undergraduate degree. Unfortunately, graduate student limits will not be increasing.
Do you have more than one school to choose from or are you sure you'll be attending the private school? If the cost is a make or break, then unfortunately you will likely have to wait until you get your FA package and then determine what portion you will have to pursue privately.
If you have a limited (or not-so-great) credit history, you may want to discuss the option of a co-signer with any family members you may have now, to be realistic about your options with them if you should need an individual to co-sign.
Good luck! :)

Thanks for all the info. :) I'm starting a 2nd degree BSN program in September. I was relieved to read that Congress increased the Stafford loan amounts by $2,000 starting in July; that's 2K less I have to borrow in private funds.

Have you decided if you'll pay interest while you're in school? Some lenders will reduce your interest rate by 1/4 point if you do that. It's something I'm thinking about. Fortunately, my husband and I have a credit score that's considered "excellent". But our income situation is a bit weird because he's been on disability for 1.5 years. So I don't know how that will affect the private lenders' decision.

I've been accepted to other programs, but the private school makes sense for me, in terms of time. The other 2 programs are ADN, so I'd still have to do another year (and pay another year's tuition) at a 4-year school in order to get my BSN. (Long-term plan is to get my MSN.) And the private school, associated with a huge university hospital, has a lot of other things to offer that the 2 ADN programs don't.

The money situation is important, and driving me crazy. Frankly, I don't know where the FAFSFA people came up with our expected family contribution. We don't have any investments except our home. The EFC seemed really high to me, but all I can do is wait and see what my school's FA office says and take it from there.

It's always something, isn't it? :)

bookworm1 · May 17, 2008

I didn't hear about the Stafford increase. That is good news! I am also attending a private University and have found financing to be a bit difficult. I was able to do my pre-req's a a local CC, which meant I paid next to nothing. My grades there allowed me to qualify for several scholarships at the private university, which is taking care of a large chunk of my tuition. I am taking a few classes over the summer at the much higher tuition rate, which I had to cover with private loans. My first 2 years of working as a nurse will go into repaying all these loans. We do not get our financial aid information until July-very frustrating!