inadequate Stafford Loans

[BGGA]

I have just recieved my financial aid eligibility letter from one of my schools. My EFC was deducted from the aid that I am eligible for. My problem is I VERY much doubt that my parents (or I) are going to be able to contribute the EFC. What do I do? Can I appeal?

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[OSUdoc08]

I have just recieved my financial aid eligibility letter from one of my schools. My EFC was deducted from the aid that I am eligible for. My problem is I VERY much doubt that my parents (or I) are going to be able to contribute the EFC. What do I do? Can I appeal?

Are you in undergrad or medical school?

In undergrad, there is nothing you can do. You will need to work on getting scholarships or private loans.

In medical school, your parents were not considered for financial aid. You can also work with the financial aid to secure more money, if needed.

 

[BGGA]

Are you in undergrad or medical school?

In undergrad, there is nothing you can do. You will need to work on getting scholarships or private loans.

In medical school, your parents were not considered for financial aid. You can also work with the financial aid to secure more money, if needed.

I am going to enter medical school this fall. I'm currenly working (even though my bank account gives no indication of this ) So basically, I can contact this school, explain that I don't have savings even close to my EFC and they can grant me more loan money?

 

[OSUdoc08]

I am going to enter medical school this fall. I'm currenly working (even though my bank account gives no indication of this ) So basically, I can contact this school, explain that I don't have savings even close to my EFC and they can grant me more loan money?

Yes, contact the school, and inform them that you will be unemployed upon entrance to medical school. Also inform them that yor savings account is empty.

The parents were not taken into account, so the entire EFC was from your reported income only.

 

[BGGA]

Thank you for the info. I will make the call on Monday.

 

[cytoborg]

I have just recieved my financial aid eligibility letter from one of my schools. My EFC was deducted from the aid that I am eligible for. My problem is I VERY much doubt that my parents (or I) are going to be able to contribute the EFC. What do I do? Can I appeal?

By law you can borrow up to the total cost of your education (= the ~$50K price tag on the budget sheet you were likely given). I didn't have any money whatsoever to meet my EFC which was a few thousand bucks...I just borrowed that amount in Staffords. The max subsidized Stafford you can borrow each year is $8500 (yeah, a drop in the ol bucket). But you can borrow the rest in unsubsidized Staffords, the only max being the aforementioned $50K price tag.

 

[mpp]

Actually, the maximum in Stafford loans per year is $38,500 of which $8,500 may be subsidized. You may be able to borrow more from private lenders

 

[cytoborg]

Actually, the maximum in Stafford loans per year is $38,500 of which $8,500 may be subsidized. You may be able to borrow more from private lenders

Huh. OK, I stand corrected. But I'm not sure why the OP's school is using the EFC to reduce the amount of loans he is eligible for. Many students are not able to contribute their EFCs and they are able to just borrow more.

 

[BGGA]

Hopefully my request for additional stafford loan money is going to be straight forward. As long as I am not exceeding the $38,500 limit it shouldn't be a problem. When I initial found out that my EFC was $8000+ I assumed that I would just get less subsidized money. But I was granted the full $8500 and the unsubsidzed amount that I qualified was reduced by my EFC. Is that how it works for everyone initially, or is it just this school?
Anyway, I will see what Monday brings.

 

[cytoborg]

Hopefully my request for additional stafford loan money is going to be straight forward. As long as I am not exceeding the $38,500 limit it shouldn't be a problem. When I initial found out that my EFC was $8000+ I assumed that I would just get less subsidized money. But I was granted the full $8500 and the unsubsidzed amount that I qualified was reduced by my EFC. Is that how it works for everyone initially, or is it just this school?
Anyway, I will see what Monday brings.

I don't think it's unusual. Often there is quite a bit of wrangling over the numbers until your final package gets worked out. My school presented me with 2 options: like you I got the $8500 sub stafford - they try to give you this first b/c it's a better loan - and then they adjusted the unsub stafford. They showed an amount of unsub staffords reduced by the amount of my EFC (which was a shocking number - where are we going to come up with that kind of $$??), but they also showed the full amount of unsub staffords to make up the difference in case I couldn't make the EFC or didn't want to. They said it was up to me how much I wanted to borrow. I borrowed the full amount because there was no way I was going to come up with the dough for the EFC, and even if I could, I wanted to be sure to have enough money.

 

[OSUdoc08]

Actually, the maximum in Stafford loans per year is $38,500 of which $8,500 may be subsidized. You may be able to borrow more from private lenders

Yup, and you can get $6,000 in Perkins to add to the $38,500 Stafford for a maximum federal limit.

 

[BGGA]

Thanks for all of the information. I called the school and indeed my EFC can be covered by additional stafford loans

 

[Febrifuge]

Max Stafford in one FA year is $18500, that's $10k in Unsub and 8500 in Sub.

$138500 is the LIFETIME aggregate max.

We will all probably need private loans to get us the rest of the way to the estimated cost figure.

EFC is not that important.

 

[mpp]

For medical school, the annual maximum in Stafford loans is $38,500 with an aggregate lifetime maximum of $189,125.

 

[OSUdoc08]

Max Stafford in one FA year is $18500, that's $10k in Unsub and 8500 in Sub.

$138500 is the LIFETIME aggregate max.

We will all probably need private loans to get us the rest of the way to the estimated cost figure.

EFC is not that important.

That must be for undergraduate. Not for medical school. I take out $38,500 a year in Stafford.

 

[wallstdoc]

~189,000 is the lifetime max, as of today. May go up in the next few years

 

[cooldreams]

if you were to take 40k in fed money for 4 yrs, thas only 160k which is < the max. the max is also to include fed money from undergrad or elsewhere.

the school has a budget, say 60k for you for the year. if you efc is about 5k, then they say the max you can get in loans is maybe 55k. sub the 38.5k in fed, and you have 12.5k in private money you can get a loan for. thas what they are doing basically. if you think u need more than that, then talk to the school to see what you can do, basically you really shouldnt have to struggle that much with money in med sko... loans are there for the taking.