Graduate Financial Aid

This is the time of year when grad students are figuring out how to pay their tuition for the upcoming school year. Here is a list of common FAQ’s I get regarding the Graduate Plus loan…

1. Can I use this loan for living expenses, such as rent, groceries, transportation?
A. YES, you can, however just like the Stafford loan, this loan must be certified by your school officials. So if you are needing these funds for things other than tuition, you must clear that with your financial office, or chances are, they may not certify the loan

2. Does this loan get sent to the school or to me?
A. This loan is sent to your school. If there is money left over after tuition is paid, then you will get a check from the school directly.

3. What is the interest rate on this loan?
A. The interest rate for the 0809 school year is 8.5% fixed. This rate will never change for this particular loan/school year

4. What is the credit criteria in order to get approved for this loan
A. The grad plus loan is easier to get approved for than a private graduate loan. Basically as long as you do not have any openly delinquent accounts showing up on your credit report, then you will most likely be approved for it.

5. Can I apply with a cosigner?
A. You must apply on your own first, and if you are denied, you can then add a cosigner to the application.

6. Do I have to have a FAFSA filed in order to get this loan?
A. YES, you must file a FAFSA. You also must take out the alotted amount in the Stafford loan before you can recieve this loan.

7. When are my payments due?
A. Not until you are finished school, will your payments be due on this loan. You can however make interest payments, if you choose.

The Graduate Plus loan is a great loan to utilize if you are going to be a foreign enrolled student…(this means that you are attending a school abroad, that is not in anyway affiliated with University in the U.S.). However, there is a slight pitfall that many potential grad students should be aware of. Not every school abroad, is able to accept a Graduate Plus loan to help pay for tuition or living expenses….What does this mean? Most students say…”it’s a loan for me…why does the school have to approve it”? Keep in mind folks that the Grad plus loan is still a United States Federal Loan….even if you are not studying here….so here is some advice:

1. Before you decide what school you are attending overseas…check with each of your options and see if the financial aid office at that school is equipped to “certify” this type of loan. The Graduate Plus loan will be sent to your school, not to you…so this is very important…especially if you are counting on this loan to help you pay your tuition

2. Once you decide on a school, and you are certain you can take this type of loan out…you now need to make sure your FAFSA form is updated…and renewed. You will need to send a copy of your Student Aid report to your school abroad.

3. Now It is time to apply! You can fill out the application on Gradloans.com…and you will get pre-approved right away…if you get denied (since this is based on your credit history)….you can always add an endorser to the loan, in order to get it approved.

4. Keep a copy of ALL documents…especially the MPN…some schools require copies of this.

5. Make a checklist of all documents the school requires regarding this loan…it is up to you to provide the school with all these forms in order to get this loan certified.

Communication is often difficult between lenders, and schools abroad, so I recommend that you be the middle woman….keep track of who has what, and who needs to send which forms. Any questions? Leave a comment or email our help box: Here!

Helpful Sites

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You filled out your applications on time. You have submitted and signed your documentation. You have dotted your i’s and crossed your t’s so what in the world is taking so long with your loan disbursement

There are a number of reasons student loan processing is going a bit slower than in previous years. Scandals in the student loan industry have made many students leery of their school’s preferred lender lists and have prompted them to seek their own lenders, mostly online. On the other hand, schools have had to scramble to get new processes in place, update website and financial aid collateral to reflect the changes in the industry and inform borrowers of their right to choose a lender. Schools, lenders and guarantors have had to certify those loans in various different ways. Historically, schools have had processes in place that while expediting the process, limited borrower choice. The result has been longer than expected processing times and later than usual disbursement dates.

If you are waiting for loan funds to come in, here are some tips to expediting the process:

1) The best way to get information on your loan is to speak with the lender you applied with. Your lender will be able to tell you if your loan is complete and if a certification request was sent to your school.
2) Be sure you have completed all of your loan documentation. Don’t just assume that you are done. Ensure that if you have signed and returned your Master Promissory Note and that it has been sent to your school for certification.
3) Double check with your school to verify they have received a certification request from your lender or guarantor.
4) If your school states that they have not received a certification request and your lender and or guarantor states that one was sent, verify the date and how the certification was requested. Then ask your school’s financial aid office to contact your lender to get the certification processed. If your lender states that the certification request was faxed, verify the fax number with the lender and the school. This will help speed up the process of getting your funds.
5) Lastly, double check your school’s preferred disbursement date. Your loan may be ready to be disbursed but your school ultimately decides when the funds are to be credited to your account. Knowing when your disbursement date is helpful especially if you are expecting a refund from your school.

It is a challenging year for everyone in the student loan industry but we are all committed to ensuring borrowers have choice and ease of process. For more information on the student loan process, please visit our website at www.GradLoans.com.

Many graduate students, prior to entering grad school, work full time for a few years to earn money to live on their own, gain valuable work experience and to pay back their student loan debt.

Working full time before going to grad school can provide a student with more perspective in their field of study and the opportunity to apply real-life skills to the classroom once they go back to school. Unfortunately, for many, giving up a full -time salary to attend grad school can be a tough thing to do. In some cases it is not entirely feasible to give up a full time income. Many grad students today have families, mortgages and other expenses which makes giving up a full time income, as well as taking on more debt, a tough thing to do. But with proper planning and some research you can come up with a great plan for financing graduate school.

1. THINK SMALL! Look at your non-essential expenses. Paying for premium cable? Whether you are attending part time of full time, Grad school is going to leave little time for CSI Miami! Cancel your cable and have an extra $80-100 in your pocket each month. You might be too busy to study to make your regular rounds at the gym. Instead of paying a monthly membership, walk, run or ride your bike to places that you can. You will be saving on your gym membership and on car expenses (oh and saving the environment!). There are tons of other little ways you can save a lot of money by thinking small.

2. FIND A MATE! Consider roommates or living on campus. For many grad students who have been on their own for a while this could be a frightening thought. But campus living for graduate students is a much different experience than for undergraduates. Consider finding a roommate in a similar program. You will gain a study buddy and reduce your monthly living expenses.

3. EAT NOODLES! Boston is a great city full of restaurants and it can be hard for me not to eat out every night of the week. Cooking meals is always a cheaper option. Your bar bill is lower and you don’t’ have to tip your server. Even paying for coffees in the mornings adds up. A pound of coffee currently costs around $7.99 and lasts usually for two and half weeks. In that same amount of time, if you were to buy your coffee every day at $2.00 a pop, you would have spent $21.00 almost three times as much!

4. GET A JOB! Okay let me clarify. If you are working full time and attending grad school part-time, you already have your hands full. But for full time grad students, jobs like being a chauffeur can provide you with endless study hours while you are getting paid. I recently saw one limo driver sitting in the back seat of his limo, books at his side, typing away on his laptop while waiting for his customer. He was earning money while working on earning his degree. Not for you? Find a part time job in your field of study to gain more experience.

5. GET OUT! Now get out there and get the right financing. Look for loan programs that are tailored to your specific program. Getting an MBA? Look at an MBA Loan. Going to Law school? Find loans specifically geared towards law students. Find all this information and more at www.GradLoans.com

Consolidating your undergraduate debt is a great idea too. You can lower your monthly payments and defer your payments while attending graduate school. Find out more at www.studentloanconsolidator.com

Attending graduate school is an investment in your future. Invest wisely, do your research and study hard. Good luck!

Figuring out how to pay for grad school can be a confusing time. Most undergraduate students have parents that help them through the financial aid process..but as a graduate student, it is likely that you are on your own. Here are the top 5 Steps every prospective graduate student should follow, in order to ensure you have your tuition covered, come time to pay!

1. Renew Your FAFSA!!!
∙ Graduate Students are not eligible for grants from the Feds, but they are eligible for Federal Student loans…which are a great resource to help pay for school. Graduate Students can get a total of $20,500 per graduate school year for the Stafford Loan. You also have other options such as the
Grad Plus loan….both of these loans require an updated FAFSA form on file with your school. No FAFSA, no Federal loans.

2. Crunch the Numbers
∙ Graduate school tuition can be tricky because some schools include the cost of living in their tuition costs, and some do not. The ones that include it do not always have an accurate estimate of what those costs will entail. You need to sit down, and figure out how much money you will need to pay for your tuition and for all your living expenses per school year.

3. Choose your Loans
∙ There are so many different student loans out there, so you need to choose carefully. My advice is to always take Federal loans out 1st. If you still need more loans than what the Federal will cover…than consider an Alternative Loan. Just remember: Federal Loans are the best…but Alternative Loans can cover all the rest!

4. Loan Paperwork
∙ Once you know how much you need to borrow you now need to fill out loan Promissory notes. Don’t be fooled, once you submit your notes, keep track of them in process. Make sure there are no issues with them or your with your school. You do not want to be left high and dry, when tuition is due.

5. Organize
∙ One of the most common mistakes students make, is not keeping track of your loan information. Who are your lenders? What is your interest rate? How much interest is accruing on your loans? My advice is to make an excel spreadsheet with each loan listed out. Keep phone numbers and addresses of the lending institutions, and the servicing companies. All this information is very important, and keeping it organized will surely make your graduate school experience a much more enjoyable one!

More Helpful Sites for Financial Aid Info:
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Now is the time when most schools are sending out their Financial Aid Award letters to students who plan on attending their school this Fall 2007. Graduate school programs are typically more expensive than undergraduate programs, so the 18,500 that you may be getting in the Stafford loan, may not be enough to cover your tuition and expenses. Or perhaps it is enough to cover your basic tuition, but you still need a loan to help you live while you are attending school. The Graduate Plus loan is a new option for students that is guaranteed by the Federal Government. What does this mean for you? It means that when you complete your education, this loan can be consolidated with your Stafford loan…this will make it much easier for you to manage your debt. It is around this time of year when you should apply for the Graduate Plus loan. If you do not know how much you need to borrow, it is wise to over-estimate when applying, because it is much easier to decrease the loan amount, then to try and increase it once school starts. Typically the loan automatically goes into an in-school deferment, but you may have to fill out a form to post pone payments. This loan does not have a 6 month grace period after graduation…but you can request a forbearance for 6 months after you leave school. For more information on this loan you can visit: Graduate Plus Loan Info

More Helpful Sites for Financial Aid Info:
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First and foremost, CONGRATULATIONS! Enjoy your celebrations, parties and congratulatory dinners! Bask in the glow of your accomplishment! You have six months before you have to repay those student loans anyway…right? Not necessarily.

THE STAFFORD LOAN SIX MONTH GRACE PERIOD

Let’s say you took out some loans as an undergraduate student. When you graduated you enjoyed a grace period of six months before you had to start making payments. Then let’s say you started to repay those loans for a while and decided to go back to school to obtain a higher degree (to delay joining the real world for a while ;-). Those undergraduate Stafford Loans you were previously making payments on went into an in-school deferment right? Right?

Okay, let’s also say you took out new Stafford Loans to fund your graduate education. Now you have two different portfolios of loans. The ones you took out for undergrad (even if consolidated) and your new graduate school loans. Only those new Stafford Loans will have a six month grace period! The loans that you had been previously making payments on are in deferment and will begin repayment immediately after you are no longer enrolled at least half time in school (either due to graduate or other separation).

Grace periods are a one time deal and basically once you’ve broken your grace (experienced sixth months post graduation or have ceased to be enrolled at least half time) you don’t get a grace period back. So what to do now that you have some loans entering repayment one month after you graduate and others entering repayment six months after you’ve graduated?

One good option is to start the Student Loan Consolidation process now.

Did you know that even if you have already consolidated your undergraduate loans that you may be eligible to consolidate them again? If you consolidated your student loans after graduating from an undergraduate program and then entered a graduate program that required a new Stafford or Graduate PLUS Loan, you can consolidate all of these loans into one low monthly payment.

At the Student Loan Network, we help students take the worry out of paying back both your undergraduate and graduate student loans. Our student loan consolidation services can help you manage both undergraduate and graduate student loan debt. We also consolidate private student loans too!

Remember, graduating was the hard part! Let the Student Loan Network help you make the rest easy!

This past July 1st, 2006 - the US Dep’t of Education created a new loan geared towards students continuing on after undergraduate school. The graduate Plus loan is the second non-need based federal student loan (the parent plus loan was the first). Since the demand for graduate students has increased in the past 10 years, so has the cost for tuition. Typically, a stafford loan for grad school would not come close to covering tuition and living expenses, so now the student can apply for the Graduate Plus loan to cover the difference. The approval process for the loan is not as stringent as the parent plus loan approval. As long as the applicant does not have any delinquent accounts on their credit history they are usually approved for this loan. If you have Federal loans from undergraduate school as well, they can all be rolled together once you are finished with school, since they all share the same Federal status. This will be so helpful once you finally do finish school to have just one payment. From my experience, with any loan you apply for, it is best to do your research, and pick a loan that will suffice your needs.

Ok, so it’s not really new, but the Graduate PLUS Loan became available to students on July 1, 2006 and it, really, gives all graduate students a great opportunity to take out an easy, Federally backed loan for a graduate level study. Historically, the Parent PLUS (Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students), as the name implies, was a loan that a parent could take out for their undergraduate student. Makes sense, right? Well now, the Grad PLUS loan (ignore the acronym meaning this time) is for a graduate student to take out a loan, up to the cost of education, on their own signature. No parent/co-signer required. Graduate students still can borrow the $18,500 per year in Stafford loan funds if awarded that aid but, so many graduate programs cost more than that. To bridge that gap, the Graduate PLUS loan can help cover up to the cost of education - at a fixed 8.5% interest rate (and discounts even apply) it is much more cost effective than tapping into savings, using income or credit cards. Again, it’s Federally backed - meaning you get full Federal benefits (deferment, forbearance, etc.) So, if in five years you are going through a rough time financially, you can defer it If you join the military, you can defer it. Think of it like this, a full cost of education loan at a competitive interest rate and many great benefits. What’s not to like?