Stafford Loan Estimate Comes Back Low??

[justin1390]

Finally filled out my Fafsa and got it in tonight. It gave me an estimated stafford loan amount I might be eligible for and it said it was 20k. Whoa....no way I can pay 44k a year off that. And that's a LOT of private loans. The only thing I can think of is:

1) I filled in my savings account info, which is about $13k in assets.

2) That's a generic estimate not taking into consideration I am entering medical school this fall and can receive up to forty-something grand.

Thoughts? Am I worrying about nothing?

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[MT Headed]

Finally filled out my Fafsa and got it in tonight. It gave me an estimated stafford loan amount I might be eligible for and it said it was 20k. Whoa....no way I can pay 44k a year off that. And that's a LOT of private loans. The only thing I can think of is:

1) I filled in my savings account info, which is about $13k in assets.

2) That's a generic estimate not taking into consideration I am entering medical school this fall and can receive up to forty-something grand.

Thoughts? Am I worrying about nothing?

I have no idea, but I would guess it is number (2). My "Estimated Expected Family Contribution" is the maximum allowed and I might be eligible for $20.5K in stafford loans, which is amazingly enough the maximum allowable loan for a generic graduate loan.

 

[DrMidlife]

The balance will be made up in GradPlus, which are also federal loans. There are only 2-3 US med schools left that have costs covered by Staffords.

 

[MT Headed]

The balance will be made up in GradPlus, which are also federal loans. There are only 2-3 US med schools left that have costs covered by Staffords.

So it's just a coincidence that the estimate was 20,500, and the maximum allowable for generic graduate school is 20,500, even though the maximum allowable Stafford for medical schools is much much higher?

I'm paying cash for medical school so it doesn't bother me at all - I only filed a FAFSA to qualify for school scholarships. But man, that's going to ream a lot of people. GradPlus is more expensive than the mafia.

I thought every medical school applicant automatically qualified for the maximum medical school Stafford amount (or COA, whichever is less). I have much to learn!

 

[DrMidlife]

So it's just a coincidence that the estimate was 20,500, and the maximum allowable for generic graduate school is 20,500, even though the maximum allowable Stafford for medical schools is much much higher?

We don't know what the OP was talking about, so who knows. My FAFSA report doesn't say anything about Stafford estimates, so I bet there's another party or two involved here (such as the school's financial aid office).

I'm paying cash for medical school so it doesn't bother me at all - I only filed a FAFSA to qualify for school scholarships. But man, that's going to ream a lot of people.

Nobody's getting reamed beyond ordinary reaming, pending further evidence.

GradPlus is more expensive than the mafia.

GradPlus is required if you want to go to med school and you don't have other funding, for about 185 out of 190 US med schools. It's a federal loan with substantial support for repayment during residency.

If you want to call mafia on something, call it on the $250k COA for med school. No other country on earth could get away with getting its government to certify loans for that.

I thought every medical school applicant automatically qualified for the maximum medical school Stafford amount (or COA, whichever is less). I have much to learn!

Again, hold onto your conclusions - this is not a lesson thread, it's a "WTF does this number I'm looking at MEAN?!?!?!" thread. Read finaid.org if you want to see a good overview of the rules.

Best of luck to you.

 

[justin1390]

Alright, thanks guys. The number I got was actually posted immediately after submitting my fafsa. It is shown on the same page as the EFC after you finish the confirmation, etc. But all this does make a lot more sense. I appreciate it!

As a side note, how exactly do you apply for the GradPlus? Is this through the school? Thanks!

 

[DrMidlife]

As a side note, how exactly do you apply for the GradPlus? Is this through the school? Thanks!

Yes, your school owns the job of producing an "award" for you, and they should provide links to the places where you sign your life away. Much signing of much life away.

Smart thing to do: save a copy of everything you sign somewhere, so that you can effectively mill about and panic come the end of 4th year when you have to start writing checks (if there are still checks then). In particular, keep all your master promissory notes.

 

[MT Headed]

Alright, thanks guys. The number I got was actually posted immediately after submitting my fafsa. It is shown on the same page as the EFC after you finish the confirmation, etc. But all this does make a lot more sense. I appreciate it!

It might be worth asking politely on pre-allo if anybody got a higher suggested Stafford amount than 20,500 on the Congratulations You Filled Out Our Form email. They have a lot more traffic and a lot more recent appliers than here.

 

[justin1390]

Sounds like fun guys... Thanks to both for all the help!

 

[VVSHT]

Finally filled out my Fafsa and got it in tonight. It gave me an estimated stafford loan amount I might be eligible for and it said it was 20k. Whoa....no way I can pay 44k a year off that. And that's a LOT of private loans. The only thing I can think of is:

1) I filled in my savings account info, which is about $13k in assets.

2) That's a generic estimate not taking into consideration I am entering medical school this fall and can receive up to forty-something grand.

Thoughts? Am I worrying about nothing?

The exact same thing happened to me. My guess is that your school financial aid office will change the loan amount to 42k, which is the maximum stafford loan for medical students. If you can recall filling out the FAFSA, nowhere does it ask us to indicate that we are going to medical school. The only options are "dependent-undergraduate", "independent undergraduate", and "graduate/professional". They have no way of knowing we are medical students right now, so they assume we are just regular graduate students.

I dont think they can figure this out from our school code, because I happen to go to a large state institution which has 2 medical schools, a health professinal school, a MPH program, a nursing program etc, and you enter the same school code for all these programs.

 

[Scorcher31]

The exact same thing happened to me. My guess is that your school financial aid office will change the loan amount to 42k, which is the maximum stafford loan for medical students. If you can recall filling out the FAFSA, nowhere does it ask us to indicate that we are going to medical school. The only options are "dependent-undergraduate", "independent undergraduate", and "graduate/professional". They have no way of knowing we are medical students right now, so they assume we are just regular graduate students.

I dont think they can figure this out from our school code, because I happen to go to a large state institution which has 2 medical schools, a health professinal school, a MPH program, a nursing program etc, and you enter the same school code for all these programs.

This is correct. You should cap out in the 40s not the 20s. The package will be different from your school as it is just for med students. When I graduated in 2010 the majority of us were able to take max stafford loans and pay for everything. I can almost assure you grad plus loans are not the norm unless its drastically changed in a couple of years.

 

[MT Headed]

Thank you thank you everybody. What DrMidlife was saying just didn't pass the "sniff test". I'm sure if medical school applicants were regularly getting stafford loans of only 20,500 then it would have been all over pre-allo by now.

 

[DrMidlife]

Thank you thank you everybody. What DrMidlife was saying just didn't pass the "sniff test". I'm sure if medical school applicants were regularly getting stafford loans of only 20,500 then it would have been all over pre-allo by now.

No idea what you're sniffing. If you want to point out a statement I made that's incorrect, go for it. The finaid.org link that I'm always citing clearly states that med students have a Stafford limit of $40.5k.

 

[MT Headed]

No idea what you're sniffing. If you want to point out a statement I made that's incorrect, go for it. The finaid.org link that I'm always citing clearly states that med students have a Stafford limit of $40.5k.

Justin: FAFSA says I'm only likely eligible for 20K
DrMidlife: The balance will be made up by GradPlus

While we could discuss back and forth all night what perzactly was meant by whom, this was just a really scary and misleading introductory response to the topic. Myself, Justin, and at least 13,000 other matriculants are going to be receiving these kind of letters soon if not already, and the most correct and most informative response is "yeah, FAFSA is kind of clueless, you can expect to get the full 40K when it's all said and done".

I don't think it's worth pursuing this matter any further; everybody is right in their own way, and the discussion has been settled.

 

[TMP-SMX]

The only thing the FAFSA is saying is the determining factor of how much need-based subsidized aid an individual is eligible for. Subtract the EFC from the Cost of Attendance = Eligible need-based or subsidized loans. For example, with an EFC of 20,500 and a CoA of 50,000 that leaves 29,500 for subsidized loans. In other words, a high EFC does not affect the ability to get the full amount of subsidized loans. An EFC of CoA-EFC over 8500 would limit the amount of subsidized Staffords dollar for dollar. (The max subsidized amount if $8500 for Staffords no matter what the EFC is).

 

[Premed2500]

Don't know if any of you know of the new changes effective July 1 2012.

http://www.finaid.wisc.edu/213.htm

http://chicagofinancialaid.northwestern.edu/loans/Graduate-federal-direct-loan-changes.html

 

[TMP-SMX]

Yeah I remembered that story after I posted. There will no longer be subsidized Staffords for grad students anymore.

 

[donkeykong1]

The exact same thing happened to me. My guess is that your school financial aid office will change the loan amount to 42k, which is the maximum stafford loan for medical students. If you can recall filling out the FAFSA, nowhere does it ask us to indicate that we are going to medical school. The only options are "dependent-undergraduate", "independent undergraduate", and "graduate/professional". They have no way of knowing we are medical students right now, so they assume we are just regular graduate students.

I dont think they can figure this out from our school code, because I happen to go to a large state institution which has 2 medical schools, a health professinal school, a MPH program, a nursing program etc, and you enter the same school code for all these programs.

Same here. All incoming first year med students will get the estimated 20.5k Stafford loan, when in reality that number will change to 42,722 once you get verified by your school's financial aid office.