Financial Aid

[PodChick]

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Hey guys,

I was hoping I can get a general idea on what most of you have done regarding financial aid......I'd like to be able to live comfortably off of Stafford loans alone....but do you guys recommend an additional loan (I'll be starting Scholl this August). And if you recommend another loan....which one...GradPLUS? Private?

Any suggestions would be appreciated, I'm in the midst of figuring out what I want to do!

 

[Stafocker]

Hey guys,

I was hoping I can get a general idea on what most of you have done regarding financial aid......I'd like to be able to live comfortably off of Stafford loans alone....but do you guys recommend an additional loan (I'll be starting Scholl this August). And if you recommend another loan....which one...GradPLUS? Private?

Any suggestions would be appreciated, I'm in the midst of figuring out what I want to do!

Savers - Stafford, sub and unsub, with perkins should be more than enough, especially if you decide to stay in North Chicago or Suburbs instead of moving Downtown.

Spenders - Stafford (all), perkins, + Health Professions or GradPlus. Do not get both HP and GradPlus, I think HP is the lower interest rate one (maybe 5%) and GradPlus is fixed at maybe 7%, but during repayment can go up to 8%. but still either-or is better than ANY private loan (starting at 8-9%, ouch!)

Lastly, you might get in a pickle when it comes to cash especially near the end of each dispersement cycle (one every 3-4 months and it changes when you get to 3/4 year for some stupid reason, mf gov't). You'd be tempted to get a job and believe it or not some ppl every year work, they still graduate and some do really well in school. For me, i worked in the Anatomy Lab (Video dissector/Summer Course TA) and Alumni Association, and worked in a work-study. I got paid a lot (~$20/hr) it rocked, but i just ended up spending it as soon as i got it. Others do research and get paid for that, too. Most of the research now is with CLEAR (Armstrong's group) in Diabetes.

http://rosalindfranklin.edu/scpm/clear/index.cfm

hope that helps, good luck