when to fill out the financial aid packets

[bravofleet4]

Hi,

I just received a financial aid packet from a school I've been accepted to. I've never borrowed loans before, so I've been sort of putting it off to the side. Someone told me there really aren't any deadlines and that they can be turned in April or June. I don't recall too much about this during my interviews. Can someone else chime in?

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[Looking Glass]

Hi,

I just received a financial aid packet from a school I've been accepted to. I've never borrowed loans before, so I've been sort of putting it off to the side. Someone told me there really aren't any deadlines and that they can be turned in April or June. I don't recall too much about this during my interviews. Can someone else chime in?

The simple answer is as early as possible. The schools were I got accepted encourage you to turn in your finaid info by April, but they also said that they more scholarship money lying around if you fill out your financial aid package early.

 

[organdonor]

As posted above, fill it out as soon as humanly possible. Earlier=more money available. It is also critically important if you have to choose between schools; if you wait, many schools won't be able to tell you what financial aid packages they can offer before the date by which you can only have one acceptance.

You also must fill out the FAFSA. For this you need your tax info AND YOUR PARENTS. FAFSA will consider you independent since you will be in graduate school (that is one of the criteria used to determine dependency) but in order to receive scholarships from your school, the vast majority of schools require parental info. Get your tax return, and your parents tax return together and fill that FAFSA out tomorrow.

Don't be intimidated by the FAFSA. I was in a similar situation with this being the first time I've ever filled it out. It wasn't a problem and there is live chat with a representative as long as you are doing it at normal hours.

At all costs, do it tomorrow. At this point, for all you know waiting even a day is costing you thousands of dollars.

 

[JJMrK]

Do it ASAP. FAFSA was due for some schools on March 1st.

 

[bravofleet4]

don't get me wrong I already filled out FAFSA in January but the school is actually asking me to list out how much money I want to draw from subsidized, unsubsidized, graduate plus, perkins, parent, and federal work study.

they specifically say that the amount from each loan offered (perkins, direct med sub, direct med unsub) is the MAXIMUM I can borrow but that only amounts to 45k and I need 66k as out of state, so right now i'm doing research about where the rest of my loans are supposed to come from. That's why I haven't filled it out yet.

 

[organdonor]

I believe you either have some bad information or you misunderstood your information.
If nothing else, your Graduate PLUS loan should cover your cost of attendance, less that of other aid/loans you receive.

Graduate PLUS loans are federally
guaranteed unsubsidized loans for
graduate and professional students.
The same terms and conditions of the
parent PLUS loan apply to the
Graduate PLUS loan. Graduate
students may borrow up to the
individual medical school’s cost of
attendance minus other estimated
financial assistance.

http://www.aamc.org/programs/first/facts/grad_plus.pdf

What school will you attend? I'll be willing to bet that the information you are looking for is on their website. Mine has a very extensive financial aid section.