Quote:
Originally Posted by FiremedicMike
Im assuming by your posts that your loans are paying your mortgage, car payment, bills, et al.. Is there any special documentation that needs to be provided to ensure this is all covered? I would estimate my current bills (excluding groceries) at around $3000/month. My goal is to kill as much of that as possible before matriculation, but is it unreasonable to expect to be able to cover these expenses with loans?
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You're limited in student loans by what the school says is the cost of attendance (COA). I took out the maximum in loans and I had ~$24 K to live on for the year. I didn't find this to be too much of a strain. I live in an area with a relatively low cost of living and this is something taken into account by the school in determining the COA. If you go to school in Boston or NYC they are going to have to give you more to live on. I was used to a fairly frugal lifestyle before school. The only thing I cut was getting rid of cable TV - I don't have time for much TV, anyway during school, so I haven't missed it much.
I didn't have to provide anything but the FAFSA. My understanding is the school sets the COA and the FAFSA (fed gov't) determines how much up to the COA you can borrow and the federal gov't doesn't care much about your specifics beyond the FAFSA. I go to a DO school, though, and these schools typically don't give out much in the way of institutional aid. If you go to a big MD school I could see the school asking for additional info for aid coming directly from the school.
Since I live alone and have no dependents I will add that I have no idea how having a working spouse or children plays into financial aid.