Student loans questions

[prettydoll123]

Hi, I've never taken out loans before, and I was wondering about the Stafford(subsidized loan). My parents don't support me, and I pay for everything that my grants and scholarships don't pay for out of pocket with some money I have saved up, but I still need to pay for my books and a housing deposit, so that'll be the last of my money(about $700). I still need to eat(buy groceries) and pay for medication and pay a few more expenses for the rest of the semester. I had originally planned on taking out my 1st loan for a summer class(I needed to take A&P II and I was just gonna take another class to raise my GPA since I need 6 credit hours to qualify for a Federal Loan). My semester started on January 16th, is it too late to go to the financial aid office and apply for a loan? Would it be harder to get one since I didn't apply last semester? How much should I take out? I was thinking like $1,000-$1,500 perhaps? I also quit my part time job to focus on school because I'm taking 16 credit hours and my adviser at my school said if you repeat a course, you wont get into the nursing program. So instead of trying to balance work and school, I'm just trying to focus on school. Any other advice anyone can give me?

[RunBabyRN]

It's not too late to apply, and if you MUST take out student loans, you're going about it the right way- Stafford loans, taking out the absolute minimum you need, etc. I would stop by financial aid and find out what you need to do in order to apply. If nothing else, you can always reject the loan if you find out you don't need it, or you can pay it back before needed. There's no penalty or anything negative that comes from either of those.

[prettydoll123]

Thank you so much! I planned on stopping by tomorrow.