how "married status" affect ability to borrow loans for opt school

[NYCBlues]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I don't know where to ask this question so I hope I'll get good advices here:

I am currently enrolled in opt school and I still include my parents' income in my FAFSA to apply for financial aid. However, my bf and I are planning to get married and I was wondering how this change in status will affect my ability to obtain loans for school. Will my student loans be reduced and/or my husband will have to pay for my tuition out-of-pocket?

For those of you who are married, how does student loans or financial aid work when you're single vs. when you're married? What are the drawbacks of being married?

My bf is supporting me financially and I know for one thing that my bf can't claim taxes unless we're married. But now we want to get married and we don't know how that will affect our ability to borrow loans for school.

Thanks for any input and/or for directing me to any websites that would help answer this question.

 

[JennyJet]

I've been married for several years and still included my mother's income for Health Professions Loan. I didn't get it though.

I guess the biggest drawback with being married when it comes to financial aid is that your combined income is used to determine any need based financial aid. Then again, if your single and rich you'd have the same issue. 🙂 The higher your income the lower you chances of getting any need based monies or subsidized loans. Also, if you have savings, investments, own property, etc.. that will also factor in. You probably won't have any problem getting an unsubsidized loan. I didn't qualify for any need-based monies or subsidized, but I could pay for optometry school and then some entirely on unsubsidized loans.

 

[cpw]

You can definitely emancipate from your parents if they're not paying anything for your schooling. As a professional student, even if you're living at home, you can not report them to get more loan money.

I got married after OD school, so I can't really help with that part. Sorry. 🙁

 

[r_salis]

I was married entering OD school, and was never able to get any financial aid or work study because of my husband's income.

Ask the financial aid officer(s) at your school or the schools you've applied to -- they usually know the $$$$ cutoffs for the different situations off the tops of their heads (married/non-married, parental support, etc.) since they deal with these issues all the time. Good luck.

 

[prettygreeneyes]

Like rsalis, I too was married when I entered optometry school ( a long 4 months ago...) but I had a different experience. I was able to get all of the financial aid I needed (and then some) plus work study. My husband has a great job as an electrical engineer, but it had no effect on my situation. I believe the only impact it would have is you may qualify for less in subsidized loans. I was under the impression that you can get up to certain dollar amount per year regardless of income or credit worthiness as long as you are an enrolled student in a professional program.

In order to qualify for the Health Professions Student Loan Program (an additional loan program with a good rate) you have to list your parents income no matter how old you are, and whether you are married or not. I believe the purpose of this is to guage what type of background you came from. I get screwed in the deal because I have never received a dime from my parents for my education, but my mother's husband makes decent money, meaning no HPSL for me.

As you can see from the different responses, the best idea is probably to consult a financial aid officer at the school(s) you are at. I don't want to lead you down the wrong path if I had a different experience than most!

 

[IDr10]

You said that your mother's husband has "the money", why should this effect you? When you calculate child support, only the biological/adoptive parent's income is included, not step-parents. Why isn't this the case for the HP loan?

 

[JMU07]

PGE (or anyone else), do you happen to know what the cutoff is for income? I applied for FAFSA for undergrad but they didn't give me any grants b/c of my dad's income, so I'm assuming that I wouldn't get anything from the HPSL either, even though my parents won't be paying for OD school. Maybe I'm wrong? I did contact a few schools about cutoffs and they just told me to look on their website, which doesn't really help.

 

[prettygreeneyes]

You said that your mother's husband has "the money", why should this effect you? When you calculate child support, only the biological/adoptive parent's income is included, not step-parents. Why isn't this the case for the HP loan?

I was instructed by the financial aid officer at Pacific that I must include my step father's income on the FAFSA under "Parental Information". I don't know if the policies that apply to child support apply to financial aid. I was still able to get all of the loans I need (majority were unsubsidized, unfortunately), so while I like to complain, I'm doing OK. I was only sharing my experience!

PGE (or anyone else), do you happen to know what the cutoff is for income? I applied for FAFSA for undergrad but they didn't give me any grants b/c of my dad's income, so I'm assuming that I wouldn't get anything from the HPSL either, even though my parents won't be paying for OD school. Maybe I'm wrong? I did contact a few schools about cutoffs and they just told me to look on their website, which doesn't really help.

As far as I understand, you can not get grants (like the Pell grant for example) as a professional students, so income doesn't matter. You should still be able to get loans, even if they are unsubsidized. If your dad's income is pretty high, than chances are good that you will not get HPSL. But, you should always list the parental info because it can only help you (ie qualify for HPSL) but it is only used for that purpose.

http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/publications/student_guide/2005-2006/english/index.htm

The above link is for the Student Guide for Financial Aid for the US Department of Education. It may be able to answer some questions for those who are newbies to borrowing hundreds of thousands of dollars for school, such as myself!