Question about grants, loans, funding for college etc...

[MFMan]

This is my first time applying for financial aid. I recently filled out the fafsa form. How do I know how much I am qualified for and such? A buddy of mine was turned down for a pell grant because he made to much a year. He makes less than 20k a year. How the hell can that be to much? How does the whole loan process work? How long to do you have to pay if back? Do they base it on credit? Are the interest rates generally low? Appreciate any advice. Karma to all.

 

[Lao Tzu]

loans are usually paid back in 10 years. rates are about 5% a year.

To check your financial aid you can probably check your student account on your college's website.

Also you should get some info in a month or so showing what all aid you get, but the info may be on your student accounts on your university's webpage sooner.

 

[Apöllo]

Yeah rates are very very low, and you could get a loan where the govt. will pay the interest untill you graduate. The loans aren't exactly based on credit, but rather whether or not you've been paying your taxes and other student loans.

Right now there really isn't any money for pell grants because of budget cuts. Applying for the FASFA is your first step. Right now it seems everyone is getting loans.

If you need more money, you might have to talk to the FA office about a private loan through one of their connected lenders.

 

[Lao Tzu]

He makes less than 20k a year. How the hell can that be to much? .

Alot of pell grant recipients make about 5 or 6k a year.

Sucky part is i think bush wanted to increase the pell grant budget to 12.7 billion back in early 2003, but with the 521 billion deficit he will probably cut it back to 9 billion or so. So im most likley out 4k a year in welfare in the next few years.

Bush

 

[Apöllo]

i couldn't get any pell grants because I make too much. but i did get the govt. loans which ain't bad.

 

[mostly_a_lurker]

This is my first time applying for financial aid. I recently filled out the fafsa form. How do I know how much I am qualified for and such? A buddy of mine was turned down for a pell grant because he made to much a year. He makes less than 20k a year. How the hell can that be to much? How does the whole loan process work? How long to do you have to pay if back? Do they base it on credit? Are the interest rates generally low? Appreciate any advice. Karma to all.

You won't know how much you qualify for until you get an answer from Financilal Aid in a few months.

You generally have to be pretty poor to qualify for a Pell Grant, I was pretty poor so I qualified. If on your FAFSA you indicate that you have money in the bank that will get subtracted from your total award, so just say that you have nothing in the bank.

Generally they look at your parents income, it doesn't matter how in debt they are or if you live with them or not. If your parents make $200,000 a year and $199,000 of it goes towards paying debt you will get nothing. Their are loan options the ones I remember were Stafford Loans (which I got) and PLUS Loans (basically a loan to your parents that you pay back). They also have Work Study programs where you find a "Work Study" job and they pay part of your wages up to the amount granted. If your parents are divorced use the info from your parent with the least income. If you are married then they consider you independent and then they will look at you and your spouses income only. The amount you get also depends on whether or not you'll be living at home or at school. If you live at school you'll get more cause you have to pay room and board.

You can pay your loans back as quickly as you like or as slowly as you like but remember the interest, although is pretty low, on never stops accumulating on some loans. They're actually pretty flexible, if you are having dire circumstances you can defer your loan for 6 months or whatever until you feel like you can handle the payments. I started paying my loans off when i was 21 I'm 30 now and still have $2300 left on one and $200 on the other the be completely paid off, they'll be paid off this year. I think it was about $15,000 total that I borrowed, but that isn't nothing compared to some of my friends and my wife, they are in the neighborhood of $30,000 and up.

my advice is that when you do start paying on your loans send a little extra every month, $5, $10, $50 or whatever, it helps out in the long run.

Also, this is what it was like 8 years ago, i don't know if it's changed much.

 

[MFMan]

Thanks for the info. I figured you had to be fairly poor to qualify for pell grants.

 

[Lao Tzu]

MFMan, are you an independent or dependent?

 

[MFMan]

Independent.

 

[Buddy_Christ]

Thanks for the info. I figured you had to be fairly poor to qualify for pell grants.

not necessarily. my income was decent for 2002 and i still got the Pell Grant. however, i have 2 kids. that helped out a lot for financial aid (and also helps out big time come tax season )

it's a good thing you got your FAFSA done and turned in already. getting it in early helps out a LOT. i didn't know the deadlines when i was applying for school last winter, so my forms were in very late. i was lucky i picked up the Pell Grant at all. however, i didn't get any aid from the state because my forms weren't in by my state's deadline. when i turn the forms in this year, however, i'm hoping i get hooked up from the state, as i am a Veteran and i'm pretty sure PA gives grants to people with Veteran status. also, my girlfriend picked up quite a bit of aid from the state because of our income and household size. i'm hoping to get the same breaks she got, because that's less money i have to pay back.

you're just going to have to wait a while to see how much (if any) aid you're going to get.

the loans...there's subsidized and unsubsidized loans. you will get a subsidized loan first, and the loan is interest free until i believe 6 months after you end (graduate or quit) your education. if a subsidized loan doesn't cover everything, then you may qualify for an unsubsidized loan. the interest on them starts as soon as you get the loan.

also, as far as i know, they include the approximate of your books into your loan amounts. if you have the cash to get your books w/out a problem, that's always a bonus, and there will be extra money left over on your loan. if that's the case, grab it as soon as it's in. you don't want the school to hold onto it, as it might get lost and you'll end up never getting the extra but you'll still have to pay it back. i've heard of it happening to people and i was even told that when i went to pick up my check last semester.

if they do include the approximate cost of books in with your loan and you are strapped for cash, check to see if your school will allow an advance loan on it. i was strapped for cash at the beginning of this semester. i talked to financial aid and they were able to cut me a loan on the excess of my loan amount so i could purchase all my books. interest free too. i've talked to a lot of people that didn't know you could do this, so it's worth checking into if you need it.