Going to DO school, question about undergrad loans

Started by rc4ch
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rc4ch

rc4ch

Full Member
15+ Year Member
I am attending PCOM this upcoming fall, but just have a few questions about my undergrad loans.

I have a few private alternative undergrad loans from Chase and their deferment is ending this November. Would I be able to extend my deferment through medical school since I am going to be in school full-time anyways?

I know you that the federal loans can are already defered, but I'm just not sure how the alternative private loans work. But I guess if they don't let me defer it, I need to consolidate my loans and start paying for it using my Grad plus.
 
I'd call the lender to be sure, but deferring through medical school is usually possible.
 
It depends on the lender. I called financial aid about this issue and they said my hands are tied at the moment. All you can do at the present is call Chase and ask them if deferment is available. However, until we actually start classes we cannot defer as we have not matriculated until then and can still drop out. Yeah... drop out after coming this far, hah.
 
I'm not sure if this is a ******ed question or not but I'll ask anyway..If you are maxed out on your undergrad loan, are you still able to get federal loans for medical school?? I think I know the answer but I just want to make sure.🙂
 
PunkmedGirl said:
I'm not sure if this is a ******ed question or not but I'll ask anyway..If you are maxed out on your undergrad loan, are you still able to get federal loans for medical school?? I think I know the answer but I just want to make sure.🙂
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There's a lifetime limit for medical school students which was recently changed to something over $200,000.... maybe $220,000... I don't remember the exact total. As long as your undergrad and medschool loans don't pass that limit, you are ok. If they do, you'll need private loans to cover the rest.

At some point you'll start receiving messages, like when you fill out a renewal fafsa, that say "You may have already passed your maximum amount...." Don't be scared by those. They send them automatically because the maximum for eveyone else it lower. You'll need to contact your med school's financial aid office to determine how much you actually have left to borrow in government loans.
 
scpod said:
There's a lifetime limit for medical school students which was recently changed to something over $200,000.... maybe $220,000... I don't remember the exact total. As long as your undergrad and medschool loans don't pass that limit, you are ok. If they do, you'll need private loans to cover the rest.

At some point you'll start receiving messages, like when you fill out a renewal fafsa, that say "You may have already passed your maximum amount...." Don't be scared by those. They send them automatically because the maximum for eveyone else it lower. You'll need to contact your med school's financial aid office to determine how much you actually have left to borrow in government loans.
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I believe that you get can get Grad Plus to cover the rest instead of private loans.
 
scpod said:
There's a lifetime limit for medical school students which was recently changed to something over $200,000.... maybe $220,000... I don't remember the exact total. As long as your undergrad and medschool loans don't pass that limit, you are ok. If they do, you'll need private loans to cover the rest.

At some point you'll start receiving messages, like when you fill out a renewal fafsa, that say "You may have already passed your maximum amount...." Don't be scared by those. They send them automatically because the maximum for eveyone else it lower. You'll need to contact your med school's financial aid office to determine how much you actually have left to borrow in government loans.
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Thanks. I haven't tapped into medical school loans yet (not apply until 2010), but I have maxed out with undergrad loans which is 48k I believe. Now I'm wishing I didn't change my major as much.
 
beckhunter116 said:
I believe that you get can get Grad Plus to cover the rest instead of private loans.
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So to clarify,

When you fill out the FAFSA, you receive offers for Stafford loans - and there's a limit up to ~$200,000 on those. And then you can get GradPlus loans to fill out the rest instead of private loans?
 
twocentnews said:
So to clarify,

When you fill out the FAFSA, you receive offers for Stafford loans - and there's a limit up to ~$200,000 on those. And then you can get GradPlus loans to fill out the rest instead of private loans?
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Forget the aggregate total for a minute. If your school has a cost of attendance of $60,000 a year, for instance, you can borrow up to that amount in federally backed loans. After your Stafford loans have been maxed for the year GradPlus will make up the difference. If you need more than that, then you must use private loans to cover it. Some people elect to use private loans anyway.

Your aggregate total for Stafford loans cannot exceed $224,000, including all of your undergrad loans.
 
scpod said:
Your aggregate total for Stafford loans cannot exceed $224,000, including all of your undergrad loans.
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So if you borrowed $50,000 dollars for attending undergrad, you can only borrow $174,000 max in stafford loans for med/graduate school? The rest needs to be borrowed in PLUS or private loans? I didn't know the aggregate total also included undergraduate loans.
 
There is no way you borrowed $50,000 in Stafford funds during undergrad. Only Stafford loan funds from undergrad are included in the calculation, not private loans. I borrowed all but one year of Stafford funds and it comes in around $13000.
 
Bacchus said:
There is no way you borrowed $50,000 in Stafford funds during undergrad. Only Stafford loan funds from undergrad are included in the calculation, not private loans. I borrowed all but one year of Stafford funds and it comes in around $13000.
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I thought that as an independant student, you can borrow up to 10500 for both freshman and sophmore years, and 12500 for junior and senior years. If you do the math, that's about $45000 total.
 
Ibn Alnafis MD said:
I thought that as an independant student, you can borrow up to 10500 for both freshman and sophmore years, and 12500 for junior and senior years. If you do the math, that's about $45000 total.
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Yes, it depends on if you are independent or dependent. At the current levels dependent students can borrow about $27,000 over four years in Stafford loans and independents about $45,000. But, the maximums are $31,000 and $57,500 in undergrad. This takes into account subsidized and unsubsidized loans.
 
Bacchus said:
That may be, just going with the majority of students being dependents.
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I met my max this coming year at 57k. So yes you can borrow and max out that amount during undergrad. I thought it was 48k, but apparently they raised it.:idea: Good news for me. MORE DEBT.😀😀
 
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