New to Fin Aid

Started by adpitan
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adpitan

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Hello. I have some questions and was hoping to find answers here. I know I will be in debt when I go back to school and I am OK with that. What I was wondering is how does it work? Do you take the federal loans + private? Can you take just private loans? I'm a little worried that by the time I get to med school I will be close to my agg amount of loans....has this happened to anyone?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
 
mpp said:
You can take just private loans but federal loans are always a better deal. The aggregate maximum for Federal Stafford loans is $189,125.

Can you get more than the $2500 federal sub & unsub they offer per year or is that it?

Thanks!
 
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adpitan said:
Can you get more than the $2500 federal sub & unsub they offer per year or is that it?

Thanks!

In medical school the maximum Stafford loan (unsubsidized and subsidized) is $38,500 per year.

For dependent undergradates the maximums are:
$2,625 for year 1
$3,500 for year 2
$5,500 for years 3 and up
with a $23,600 aggregate cap.
Dependent graduate students have an annual maximum of $8,500

There are higher maximums for independent students.

The $189,125 aggregate maximum is for medical students (and other professional students like dental students) regardless of their dependent status.
 
mpp said:
In medical school the maximum Stafford loan (unsubsidized and subsidized) is $38,500 per year.

Does this mean that I will have to take out a private loan for 10-20k a year to pay for the difference? (assuming my budget is ~50k)

Also... how do we know how much we can afford for room/board?

Thanks
 
DrB said:
Also... how do we know how much we can afford for room/board? Thanks

Agreed. I did my little budget the other day & figured w/o working and to get by that I would need roughly $31K for 10 months....that includes my rent & what I hope will cover food, PGE, etc.,etc....do I take the federal + private? Then during my lag year pay down my loans & then take more out?

Thanks again!
 
mpp said:
In medical school the maximum Stafford loan (unsubsidized and subsidized) is $38,500 per year.

a couple questions from a late admit:

If my EFC is 0, can I expect to get the max in Stafford loans?

I also have a $1000 education award from Americorps, but since 1st yr's budget is $36k (public school) and 2nd yr is projected to be $40k, I was thinking I'd save the education award for 2nd yr?