Getting ready

Well everyone qualifies for "financial aid", its just not free financial aid. They will likely give you 20,500/year from the FAFSA- I believe about 8500 of it doesnt accrue interest while you are in school- The rest is around a 7% APR. After that, private non certified loans are almost non existent so you will need to apply for the Grad-plus loan which is also federally sponsored. It comes at a higher interest rate of closer to 8%, and is also based on your credit score- but they will give you additional money to cover extra expenses but it is still based on cost of attendance. Cost of attendance doesnt just mean tuition and fees, they estimate the cost of books and travel and atleast in my situation offered me plenty of money to cover everything I need. You can apply for the grad plus anytime you want, but your school probably prefers you wait to make sure that you are getting the max 20,500 because if they for some reason do not give that to you (I dont know of any cases in my school where this has happened), you'd have to increase how much extra money you ask for. Hope that helps