Second bachelor's degree???

[confewshz]

Will I qualify for financial aid (stafford loans, perkins loans, etc) if I am going back to school to get a second bachelor's degree??? Does anyone know if there are any limits to the total amount of loans you can have at any particular moment in time?? I already know there are limits based on school status (jr, sr, graduate, etc). I tried to find this information on the FAFSA website but had no luck.

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[mpp]

Yes, you are eligible for student loans for a second bachelor's. The maximum federal stafford loans for a dependent undergraduate student is $23,000. For an independent undergraduate it is $46,000. For a graduate student the maximum is $138,500.

For Perkins loans the maximums are $20,000 and $40,000 for undergraduate and graduate students respectiveley.

 

[confewshz]

Thanks for answering my question, mpp. I have another question. If I consolidated all of my current stafford and perkins loans, would my stafford and perkins loans limits go back to the maximum allowable loan amount?

For example, lets say Im an independent undergrad and I currently have 45,000 in loans but I consolidated them (using one of those consolidation companies). After the loan consolidation, will I only be allowed to borrow 1,000 or 46,000 (since I consolidated the loans)?

 

[mpp]

Good question, but I'm not sure of the answer. I would call one of the million-and-one consolidation companies for which I receive a forest full of junk mail each week to see what they say. Call a few just be sure since one of them may tell you some white lies just to get you to consolidate with them.

Now is probably a good time to consolidate regardless since rates will likely go up in July (they will announce the new rates in May). Also, be sure you determine whether or not consoidating your Perkins loans with your Stafford loans will be a good idea. They will take the weighted average rate on all the loans. The Perkins are fixed at 5% and the current Stafford rate is 2.82%. If you have more Perkins loans than Stafford, you may pay more interest than you need to when you compare consolidating the Stafford and leaving the Perkins alone. Later, you can consolidate the Perkins if you have a lot more Stafford loans at a lower rate. Hope that makes sense.

Remember that you might not get deferrment during medical school if you consolidate. In that case you will have to come up with the money from somewhere to pay those loans.

 

[confewshz]

Thanks again for the info, mpp. I thought about the deferment issues as well. That is one of the questions I will be asking the company with whom I will be consolidating my loans.