Graduate Financial Aid

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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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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It is January, which means second semester is about to begin. If you are the minority, you have your FAFSA renewed and your financial aid in order. But if you are the average Sally, you are in a bind, and next tuition bill is due any day now. This is when you turn to an Alternative Student Loan. Alternative loans can be approved instantly and you can have the check in your mail box within 5 days. Which is great considering Federal loans can take months to be approved. Graduate students often have a lot to juggle, more so than undergraduates…which means graduate students often turn to alternative loans to not only fund their education but also they can live comfortably while getting their education. Of course with any loan, you want to research all of your options, and you only should take a loan out if you absolutely need it.

We all know how stressful and expensive the holidays can be - between travelling and buying gifts, your bank account might be tapped. For those in school, it’s even worse - I remember needing to buy poster boards, binders, and stuff like that for final presentations and feeling like that was about to break the bank! So…check out the GradLoans.com Private Loan - use it for those last minute educational expenses (like fees, books, presentation materials, a new computer to replace the one that’s running too slow, etc.)

You don’t need the school to certify it and you can borrow as little as $1,500 - payment waits until you graduate!

Don’t stress about those expenses you weren’t planning on - there is a simple solution!