Federal Student loan question

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salsasunrise123

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I have taken out a significant amount of federal loans prior to med school for undergrad and grad school. I will not begin to pay back these loans until residency. I will also be borrowing fed loans to pay for med school via stafford and grad plus. My question is whether there is a law that says I need to repay "X" amount of my loans from grad and undergrad before I can borrow for med school? I will not hit the stafford life time max until final year of med school and plan on using grad plus to cover difference once I hit the stafford max. Thanks

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No, you don't have to repay anything before starting medical school.

And keep in mind that while you might not hit the lifetime maxiumum until MS4, most medical students run up against the annual stafford maximum every year (because they borrow for rent and food as well as tuition), and they hit up GradPlus to make up the difference between the stafford maximum and the Cost Of Attendance.
 
Do you know how difficult it is to get your school to increase your cost of attendance? Say you need a new laptop or the room/board budgeted amount is too low to meet ur rent payments. Will they increase your COA for those reasons?
 
Do you know how difficult it is to get your school to increase your cost of attendance? Say you need a new laptop or the room/board budgeted amount is too low to meet ur rent payments. Will they increase your COA for those reasons?

I don't know. It might be school specific, too.

On SDN I've seen reports of a COA being adjusted upwards for a laptop or for child daycare, but I really don't know. I seriously doubt they would adjust it for rent though - all students have to live someplace so it's not a unique surprise like a laptop or a child.

My school in particular has some sort of program for buying laptops, but I think it might be an optional $2,000 loan through the school itself, and not a COA adjustment.
 
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