Graduate Financial Aid

Before you decide to attend an international school to get your graduate degree, you may want to consider a few things. The biggest thing being, IT’S EXPENSIVE. If you choose to study in the states, most graduate students can get $20,500 a year in the Stafford loan…this is not always the case at schools overseas. If you have a particular school in mind, you want to check a few things. First, contact the school’s financial aid office to see what their policy is with accepting and handling US Federal loans. If they have no idea what you are talking about, you have a long road ahead of you.

When it comes to getting Federal aid for a school here, getting the actual loan certified is a relationship between the school’s FAO and the lender you chose. For school’s abroad, you need to be the middle man/woman. You need to find out exactly what the school needs from the lender, and then you relay that to the lender here. In most cases, you need to follow up on both ends to make sure paperwork has been received and is being processed. It can take a few months to actually get the loan.

In some of the more popular/larger schools abroad, there is already an established relationship between the school and a US lender. Consider yourself lucky if you go to a school like this. Most are not used to dealing with our Federal loan system. In some cases, schools abroad will not accept US federal loans…so you want to check with the school first, before you apply to go there…especially if you are relying on the $20,500 in the graduate Stafford loan. Check out Gradloans.com for more info about getting the Stafford loan for an international school.

If you are thinking about going back to school for your masters, etc., keep in mind that you will most likely be eligible for the Federal Stafford subsidized and unsubsidized loans. Graduate students can get 8500 per year in the subsidized loan. For the 08-09 school year, this will have a fixed rate of 6%. In addition to that, you can get 12,000 in unsubsidized loans. Those will have a rate of 6.8%.

To ensure you get these loans, you just need to fill out a FAFSA form; then visit www.gradloans.com for the loan applications.

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:
Live Podcast
FAFSA Information
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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!

Often times a student who is starting graduate school has to dip into both of these markets….once they exhaust Federal loans (the Stafford and the Grad Plus loan)…they then look to the private loan market. Due to the fact that graduate school is so expensive…a prospective grad student usually has to utilize a private loan to get them through their graduate school studies. There are many types of graduate loans out there…which makes it important for a student to do their research. Here are some things to look at while comparing graduate loan products:

Every prospective graduate student should know what they are getting themselves into….you should feel comfortable with the terms of the loan. Don’t go into this blindly…it will not benefit you in the future. You are choosing to better yourself by continuing on to a higher Education…make sure you aren’t setting yourself up to fail. Here are some helpful sites for more on this topic:

Graduate Private Loan
Graduate Stafford Loan
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By now, everyone should be into FAFSA mode - if you haven’t thought about it, start ASAP (as in, start yesterday) - you might find a March 1 deadline looming.
I like to give the best instructions on what steps to follow to optimize the financial aid process and not make it such a stress. Typically, you file a FAFSA, request it be sent to your school(s) of choice and wait for an award letter. Once that award letter arrives and you accept it, you apply for the Stafford…and then Grad PLUS funds, scholarships, alternative funding (private loans), etc.
In reality, I am a planner and I know many of you are too. You MAY apply for the Stafford whenever you want - but as long as it is in advance of your school’s deadline, don’t expect time to get you the funds any sooner. For a fall semester start date, schools tend to certify in late July, August, and into September. So, you may apply now, and if you do, I applaud you for being on the ball - so many wait too long and end up scrambling at the last minute. But, the downside is, your school might not certify it…just yet.