please help with finacial aid & loans

[dacthuy]

Hi there, How are you?
My estimate needed: 50,000/yr
1. With Albany, NY school: they give me
Federal stafford loan (sub + unsub)= 15,000 (4% APR)
Federal Pell grant = 9,000
total of goverment aid = 24,000
if so, i only make private loan of 26,000/yr with salie Mae - Signature loan APR 7.5%.

2. With Nevada USN school:
My estimate needed the same: 50,000/yr
private Loan with Nelnet: 50,000 (10.55% RATE)

I have the 2 above option & still not decided where to go. How you think & what would you do if you were in my situation?

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[red dot]

i'm totally a novice at this, but first of all i would really sit down and do some number crunching. figure out how much you'll owe by the time your loans capitalize, and then start from there.
secondly, i would try HARD to find a private lender whose interest rate was less than that.
third, figure when you have to start repayment. because the longer you have the loan or what's left of it, the more it snowballs unbelievabley. i think my calculator scared me today.

also, i was wondering, why and how would your staffords be at at a 4% apr?

edit: in the end, i think it's all a wash because you'll end up (hopefully) having a job after residency that will take good chunks out of your loans every month. i think what really will help make the decision for you is 1) which school you like more and 2a) whether or not your residency years will be easier for you (e.g. ramen or gourmet tv dinners for food) and/or 2b) how long you'll have your debt for.

edit: i was also under the impression that pell grants are for undergrads only?

 

[mshheaddoc]

Financial aid should not be your deciding factor on a school. You're going to be in debt either way. Also those nelnet interest rates are pretty high for their med school loans.

Honestly you CAN'T beat federal money in my opinion. I'm not sure why your second choice didn't include federal money either.

 

[ShyRem]

The OP is an undergrad - otherwise the stafford amounts would be over $30K. The OP is NOT talking about med school FA questions.

 

[mshheaddoc]

Even so for undergrad you aren't eligible for that much federal aid a year. If so, then I know a bunch of people that were jipped. Its $10500 for seniors.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Why does the Nevada school not offer any federal aid? Are they not US Department of Education certified? That would sort of worry me on its own.

About the stafford thing, maybe the OP is a non-medical grad student. They can only get up to $18,500/year. I didn't know until recently that medical students got more. Wait, but then he couldn't get pell grants. Okay, I'm confused -- maybe they just upped the stafford limits for ugrads.

 

[dacthuy]

Nevada - USN school of Pharmacy is an accredited school. They are working on the Federal aid, & they may have it next year. We cannot apply for federal aid this year with this school.

 

[MI-girl]

I think the OP might be confused...I'm at albany med right now and have received almost 50,000 a year between federal loans, perkins (maybe he/she meant perkins instead of pell??), and work study. I've survived (though somewhat frugally) without taking any private loans (tuition ~40,000/yr).

 

[red dot]

I've survived (though somewhat frugally) without taking any private loans (tuition ~40,000/yr).

wow that's awesome. what year are you/how long have you been able to do that? i'm going to attempt that too. and advice/tips? you're lucky though -- the living costs in albany are dirt cheap.