Grad PLUS loan amount

[CandideCoating]

Hi all, 

Longtime lurker, first time posting. I just finished sending off all of my applications last week, I'm hoping to get into a PhD program in Sociology with a full tuition waiver and a stipend offer (who isn't, right?). Even with those generous offers I will likely have to take out a PLUS loan to support myself and my partner through this process. I am wondering something about the language - it says you can take out up to what the school lists as your "cost of attendance." Most of my schools put cost of attendance for an out of state candidate like myself around $50K. When they report this number to the federal government, or the loan originator, I've read here that they will reduce it by the cost of tuition, since that's being waived for me. What I can't seem to find a clear answer on is will they reduce the number by the amount of my stipend as well?

 

Hypothetical math here - for example, if School A lists total cost of attendance at $55,000, of which $15,000 is tuition, and they offered a $24,000/yr stipend, would the maximum grad PLUS loan available per year at that school be $40,000? Or $16,000? (That's a big difference). 

 

Thanks for any light you can shed on this issue, I'd like to bring as much research and knowledge to the table ahead of time once the offers start rolling in and I have to make life decisions. 

[CandideCoating]

Hi, 

I got an offer of admission and I'm still trying to understand the answer to this question. So if the school says their cost of attendance is $27,000 and they're waiving $6,000 worth of tuition - is the maximum PLUS loan $21,000? Or, since they're offering a teaching assistantship, which is a job, right? of $14,000/year is the maximum PLUS loan only $7,000? I tried talking to the loan officer at the school financial aid office, but they didn't seem to follow the question.