Past Loans/ Medical School Financial Aid Award

[pico61]

Hey yall,

I am a little confused. I consolidated my undergrad (15000) and grad school (35000) loans with one lender, which gives me a total of 50000. How does this impact how much aid I can get for med school? Lets say the cost of attendance is 42000 per year. Will I receive all 42000 each year for four years or will I have trouble since I have 50000 in loans already. I guess I am concerned with the aggregate limits.


Anyone?

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[scpod]

Hey yall,

I am a little confused. I consolidated my undergrad (15000) and grad school (35000) loans with one lender, which gives me a total of 50000. How does this impact how much aid I can get for med school? Lets say the cost of attendance is 42000 per year. Will I receive all 42000 each year for four years or will I have trouble since I have 50000 in loans already. I guess I am concerned with the aggregate limits.


Anyone?

Consolidated loans are considered a part of your life-time maximum. If your maximum is $189,000.00, then you have $139,000.00 left to borrow.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Hey yall,

I am a little confused. I consolidated my undergrad (15000) and grad school (35000) loans with one lender, which gives me a total of 50000. How does this impact how much aid I can get for med school? Lets say the cost of attendance is 42000 per year. Will I receive all 42000 each year for four years or will I have trouble since I have 50000 in loans already. I guess I am concerned with the aggregate limits.


Anyone?

I'm in a similar place as you with my previous loans. The aggregate Stafford limit is a little more than $189k -- it's like $189,500 or so. This limit only affects Staffords, though, so if you had Perkins loans, you can subtract them from your total. Also, I'm not entirely sure how loans that have already been paid off affect things. I would think they'd all count towards the aggregate, but my SAR only reflects outstanding loans.

Even assuming that you borrow the full $38.5k in Staffords each year, you'll only hit that aggregate max your fourth year. It might mean that you'll have to borrow an extra $10k or so in private loans, which isn't the end of the world assuming your credit's good or you have a cosigner. Who knows, maybe we'll be lucky and they'll up the limit when we're in school.

 

[desertdr]

I've been checking out the federal websites on staffords, etc. They keep stating that the federal aggregate amount for staffords is 138,500? Are the websites just not updated?

I understand that subs. staff. are maxed at 65,500. What is the max on unsubsidized...27,000 (assuming 138500 aggregate) or 124,000 (assuming 189500)?

Thanks in advance for the clarification.

 

[scpod]

I've been checking out the federal websites on staffords, etc. They keep stating that the federal aggregate amount for staffords is 138,500? Are the websites just not updated?

I understand that subs. staff. are maxed at 65,500. What is the max on unsubsidized...27,000 (assuming 138500 aggregate) or 124,000 (assuming 189500)?

Thanks in advance for the clarification.

The maximun for a 9-month program (10, 11 and 12 month programs can get more) for graduate students is 18,500 per year, but medical students can get an additional 20,000 each year (38,500 over 9 months). So, the Stafford aggregate maximum is also higher for them and amounts to 189,500 (of which no more than 65,500 can be subsidized). You can get up to 189,500 in unsubsidized loans if you do not qualify for a subsidized loan. Just subtract the amount of your subsidized loans you have from this total to determine your unsub maximum.

 

[desertdr]

The maximun for a 9-month program (10, 11 and 12 month programs can get more) for graduate students is 18,500 per year, but medical students can get an additional 20,000 each year (38,500 over 9 months). So, the Stafford aggregate maximum is also higher for them and amounts to 189,500 (of which no more than 65,500 can be subsidized). You can get up to 189,500 in unsubsidized loans if you do not qualify for a subsidized loan. Just subtract the amount of your subsidized loans you have from this total to determine your unsub maximum.

scpod - as always, thanks for the answers!

 

[tigress]

How about loans that have been paid off already? Do they count towards the aggregate maximum?

 

[scpod]

How about loans that have been paid off already? Do they count towards the aggregate maximum?

It's defined as the "total debt you can have outstanding from all Stafford Loans combined." Your school will typically look at the NSLDS database, which includes your current (or as close to it as they can get) outstanding balance. It also includes any consolidated loans. However, an amount already paid is not included. One last caveat, if you did not pay the interest on the unsub loans as they accumulated, that amount will be included in the NLSDS database as well. You must work with your school to figure that amount because it is not a part of your aggregate max.