melars Posted May 24, 2017 Posted May 24, 2017 I probably have this figured out better than I think, but I just want to make sure because it's all super confusing... So I got the letter with my FAFSA unsubsidized loan information from my school already. In addition, I applied for a PLUS loan which I haven't heard anything about yet. What is the difference between these two? I'm worried I basically submitted a duplicate funding application that isn't going to help me further. What other loans, grants, etc do people apply for?? Or should I be pretty set with the unsubsidized loan and the PLUS loan? ANY AND ALL information or advice would be amazing!
Speechster Posted May 24, 2017 Posted May 24, 2017 You automatically get $20,500 for the unsubsidized loan no matter what your situation is. If you need more, you can get the PLUS loan. The government checks your credit (mainly to see if you havent defaulted on loans and have a decent score), and the school determines how much you are eligible for based on the budget they create for you. You have to do a credit check and a master promissory note to actually get a PLUS loan in addition to applying for it. Call your school to assist you with that. You can use whatever financial means to pay for school, but at the end of the day the amount you are eligible for (government or private) is ultimately decided by the school. You can always try to get an assistantship depending on the perks your school offers for having one. You dont have to take everything the FA office offers you. If you need less than 20,500, you will be fine. If you need more, contact your school's FA for info on the PLUS loan, grants, etc. You can call the grad office for assistantship info. ElKel87, Auuudriana and NorCalSLPA 3
melars Posted May 24, 2017 Author Posted May 24, 2017 Thank you! That's super helpful and pretty much what I have gathered from the process, so I'm glad you reassured what I was thinking. NorCalSLPA 1
SLPsingballs Posted May 25, 2017 Posted May 25, 2017 Soooooo, just for clarification, filling out the FAFSA is not enough to apply for a gradPLUS loan? I'm pretty sure I'll need to apply for one... Thanks!!
Speechster Posted May 25, 2017 Posted May 25, 2017 No you need to do a credit check and complete a mpn and counseling. Shouldnt take more than an hour and a half. Call your school and see what they need you to complete to get a plus loan.
maurmaur Posted May 25, 2017 Posted May 25, 2017 My school (WSU) automatically did the Gradplus loan. They have a break down on my student center. It shows the $20,500 and then what is gradplus. The amount they gave me fits what the estimated cost of everything is on the financial WSU website. There's categories for things which is how they determined what to loan me (tuition, books, board, living expenses, transportation). I submitted the FAFSA in January and received a package before I was even accepted to the school. ive emailed the school basic questions like how does summer aid work and can people ask for more, etc? Mainly because I've never taken out student loans and just want to make sure I understand everything before I accept my loans on my student center. If anyone has any more info, I'll gladly take it
ElKel87 Posted May 25, 2017 Posted May 25, 2017 I agree with all that @Speechster has said already. I also wanted to add that the PLUS loans have a slightly higher interest rate than the unsubsidized stafford loans. So unless you are paying off all of the interest while you're in school, your loan balance when you graduate will be higher with the PLUS loans than it would be if you just did unsubsidized stafford loans. Obviously it's not an option for everyone to only take out $20,500 to cover your grad school expenses (myself included), but just wanted to put that info out there. @maurmaur I think the disbursement dates for aid vary by school. My school has two disbursement dates for the first year (August and January I believe) and then 3 disbursement dates for the second year which covers the summer semester.
Aleh290 Posted June 12, 2017 Posted June 12, 2017 On 5/24/2017 at 1:00 PM, Speechster said: You automatically get $20,500 for the unsubsidized loan no matter what your situation is. If you need more, you can get the PLUS loan. The government checks your credit (mainly to see if you havent defaulted on loans and have a decent score), and the school determines how much you are eligible for based on the budget they create for you. You have to do a credit check and a master promissory note to actually get a PLUS loan in addition to applying for it. Call your school to assist you with that. You can use whatever financial means to pay for school, but at the end of the day the amount you are eligible for (government or private) is ultimately decided by the school. You can always try to get an assistantship depending on the perks your school offers for having one. You dont have to take everything the FA office offers you. If you need less than 20,500, you will be fine. If you need more, contact your school's FA for info on the PLUS loan, grants, etc. You can call the grad office for assistantship info. Im having trouble understanding the interest portion of this. I was offered 20,500 in direct unsubsidized loan. On the website it says that the interest acquires for unsubsidized loans. Im having trouble understanding how thats going to work
Aleh290 Posted June 12, 2017 Posted June 12, 2017 I was offered a 20.5K unsubsidized loan for grad school. Im having trouble understanding what the accrued interest means. Does it mean that the interest acquires every month until i begin to pay it? Im so confused. How does this work? The interest rate is 5.31%
Kristen Ackley Posted June 13, 2017 Posted June 13, 2017 Subsidized loans the government pays the interest until the end of your deferment period (usually 6 months after you graduate). Un-subsidized loans the interest begins accruing immediately after you borrow it and continues to accrue (daily actually) while you're in school and until paid off. So with un-subsidized you borrow 20K the first year, 20K the second, and by the time your finish school you owe 43K with $3000 in interest added in (these numbers are made up, but you can look up a loan calculator to get real numbers).
2020slp Posted June 13, 2017 Posted June 13, 2017 Does everyone always get the $20,500 regardless? And with the FAFSA, does it consider parent's income during grad school? I will be applying this fall for next year and I'll be 22 when I start, if that helps.
Kristen Ackley Posted June 13, 2017 Posted June 13, 2017 https://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/paying/articles/2014/03/11/4-ways-graduate-student-loans-differ-from-college-debt
ElKel87 Posted June 13, 2017 Posted June 13, 2017 4 hours ago, chloslp said: Does everyone always get the $20,500 regardless? And with the FAFSA, does it consider parent's income during grad school? I will be applying this fall for next year and I'll be 22 when I start, if that helps. Parents' income doesn't affect the amount of loans you get at the graduate level and there's no requirement to demonstrate financial need. The school calculates the cost of attendance for the year (tuition, room & board, books, etc.) and you can borrow up to that number. You should always borrow the $20,500 unsubsidized stafford loans first because they have a lower interest rate. After that you get Grad PLUS loans. So for example, if the school said cost of attendance for the year was $50k total you would borrow $20,500 unsubsidized stafford loans and then $29,500 in Grad PLUS loans. That's assuming you aren't going to be paying for any part of it out of pocket. This website has a lot of great information about all the types of loans, interest rates, etc. Hope that helps! https://studentloans.gov/myDirectLoan/index.action
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