When to apply for PLUS loan?

[SLPbumblebee]

I know I am going to need to take out grad PLUS loans as the standard $20,500 per year that FAFSA provides is not going to cover everything for me. I'm super confused about requesting these loans though. Do I do it now? Do I wait until I commit to a school? Do I wait until I get my FA information from my school? I'm super anxious about making sure I don't wait too long and then not have enough money to cover everything. 

[BeachySpeechy]

1 hour ago, SLPbumblebee said:

I know I am going to need to take out grad PLUS loans as the standard $20,500 per year that FAFSA provides is not going to cover everything for me. I'm super confused about requesting these loans though. Do I do it now? Do I wait until I commit to a school? Do I wait until I get my FA information from my school? I'm super anxious about making sure I don't wait too long and then not have enough money to cover everything. 

So when I applied for FAFSA, I got an estimated amount of financial aid after I submitted the application. It was around 20,000. This information will be sent to your school (when you fill out your FAFSA application, you select the schools you want the info. sent to). Your school will process it, and they will tell you how much you qualify for in both unsubsidized loans and PLUS loans. Then you will have to accept the amounts...you can indicate the dollar amount you want to accept. Some people need more, some need less. 

When I applied it was estimated that I would get around $20,000. When my school processed my financial aid, I was told I could accept up to 20,000 in unsubsidized loans and up to 10,000 in PLUS loans. I chose to accept only 20,000 in unsubsidized loans and 0 in PLUS loans because that 20,000 would easily cover my tuition and expenses. I work full time as a SLPA so I won’t need the 10k PLUS loan. 

Edited March 19, 2018 by BeachySpeechy

[soontobeslp2018]

17 hours ago, SLPbumblebee said:

I know I am going to need to take out grad PLUS loans as the standard $20,500 per year that FAFSA provides is not going to cover everything for me. I'm super confused about requesting these loans though. Do I do it now? Do I wait until I commit to a school? Do I wait until I get my FA information from my school? I'm super anxious about making sure I don't wait too long and then not have enough money to cover everything. 

When your schools send you your financial aid package it should include all the aid you’re eligible for, including PLUS loans. If you’ve been accepted somewhere go ahead and ask when/where you’ll see that information 

[sabrono]

@BeachySpeechy When did your school send you your financial aid package? I was accepted to a school almost 2 weeks ago and haven't received anything about how much aid/when they'll let me know about aid. Did you have to wait until after you committed? 

[BeachySpeechy]

16 hours ago, sabrono said:

@BeachySpeechy When did your school send you your financial aid package? I was accepted to a school almost 2 weeks ago and haven't received anything about how much aid/when they'll let me know about aid. Did you have to wait until after you committed? 

I think I got it soon after accepting the offer but I accepted in April and started in June so they kind of had to do mine quickly. I’ve never heard of not being offered enough to cover tuition and some expenses to live on. It really depends on your financial situation. My friend is married and her husband makes over 100k and she wasn’t offered much. But someone that doesn’t have assets or much income (like me) should get enough to cover the costs. Anything over the 20k FAFSA loan will be a PLUS loans which have higher interest rates.

Plus, I’m sure it depends on the school too. Some schools offer additional funding so I’m sure those schools will offer funding around the time they offer a spot into the program.